Cherries And Cakes
by InYourNightmares
Summary: Cherry Allen has had a crush on Jake since forever. And she's sick of comforting him every time Bella hurts him. Will she finally get him to notice her, or will Cherry move on to the one who comforts her every time she is hurt by Jake? EmbryxOC Complete for now!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Bonjour, mes amis!" I sang, as I walked into Jake's garage.

Jake, Quil and Embry were sitting around the engine of this car they had open, and were fiddling with the wires. Jake and Embry were covered in oil and grime, but Quil looked pretty clean. He must have just got here.

"Are those what I think they are?" Jake asked, looking up at me, and gesturing towards the Tupperware boxes I had in my hands.

"What a lovely welcome. I'm so flattered that it's me you're glad to see, and not the Tupperware." I said sarcastically, sitting down on a tire that was lying on the floor.

"Hey Cherry." Embry said with a smile. "Nice to see ya."

So Cherry isn't actually my name. It's Cheryl Allen. But ever since we were kids, the guys called me Cherry, because they thought my name sounded like that, and also because I was the only one who ate the cherries off the top of my ice creams. Blame me for loving them!

"Now we're done with the formalities, can I have one?" Quil asked, grabbing one of the boxes from my hands, and opening it. "Ah, Chocolate chip. My favorite."

"You do realize that you took those from me without asking?" I pointed out. "That's stealing. It's a criminal offense. I could sue you for that."

"Aw, come on, Cherry!" Jake cried his mouth full. "I'm broke, don't do that to us!"

May I point out that he looked really adorable with his mouth full? I can't help it; I've had a crush on Jake since like, the seventh grade. He's never noticed though, although I'm pretty sure Embry and Quil have me figured out. I'm just lucky they've never mentioned it.

"So how long are you guys gonna be stuck in this dump yard?" I asked, referring to the garage. The guys all glared at me. It was the one thing we all disagreed on. Cars. Well, it's not like I really hate cars or anything, I just don't like the idea of sitting in a garage all day, opening the damn thing up, and fiddling with it. Or, in Jake's case, building his own car. I mean, what happened to buying one? It'd probably cost less than all the parts separately would.

"It's not a _dump yard_." Quil said, looking annoyed. "We're doing constructive work."

"Yeah, well, I think she's got a point." Embry said, getting up, and stretching. "Not about the dump yard part." He added hastily, as Jake and Quil looked at him in shock, "But we've been here all morning. I could do with a bit of fresh air."

"Yeah!" I said, glad that someone was agreeing with me. Let's go into town and do something fun tonight!"

"I can't." Quil said, looking upset. "I've gotta be home tonight, some of my parent's old friends are coming over for dinner."

"That sucks." I said, looking at Quil sympathetically. I hated it when my parents had guests over and I was forced to stay home too. "What about you, Jake? You in?"

"Actually…" Jake said slowly, looking hesitant. "I can't either. I'm busy tonight."

"You are?' Embry asked, looking confused. "Doing what?"

"Um… you guys remember that girl I told you about?" Jake asked, slowly. "Bella Swan? The one who used to come over every summer when we were kids?"

"Yeah." I said. Jake had mentioned her moving into town a few months ago, but I hadn't paid much attention. I remembered Bella from when we were kids, and how can I put this nicely… we didn't exactly like each other back then. "What about her?" I asked.

"Well, she's kinda coming over tonight. There's these bikes of hers she wants me to fix, so, umm, I'm gonna be busy." Jake finished.

"Whoa, man. Do you have a _date_ with Bella Swan?" Embry asked, surprised.

"I… I don't think she thinks of it that way." Jake replied, not really giving us a straight answer.

Whoa. I think I'm practically green right now. Jake? With Bella? That little bitch that used to insult me all the time? I mean, I insulted her back, she deserved it, but now she's taking Jake away from me? And Jake actually _likes_ her! I can tell by the way he's all nervous… oh my god. This is not happening. But I don't have time to be jealous, since Embry suddenly turned to me and started speaking.

"So I guess it's just you and me then." Embry said casually. "What do you wanna do?"

"I dunno." I said, shrugging. "You have any ideas?"

"Yeah, actually, I have a really good one." He said, leaning over and whispering in my ear what his plan was. I broke into a grin immediately.

"What are you guys talking about?" Quil asked, looking at us warily.

"Oh, nothing." I said, innocently, but I was still smiling. "We're just gonna bake cookies tonight. Nothing big."  
"Okay…" Jake said, looking confused. "Alright then.'


	2. Humiliating Jacob

**(A/N) Just so you guys know, this story is set during New Moon, when none of the guys are werewolves yet, and Edward has just left Bella. Please review! It encourages me to do more. **

**Chapter 2**

I hummed a tune that had been stuck in my head since this morning while I wrapped the cakes in tin foil. In case you haven't noticed already, I love to bake. I don't know why, it just kinda calms me down I guess. The guys think I'm crazy, since I can't cook to save my life, but when it comes to baking…. Lets' just say that it's when I bake that the guys love me most. It's weird, because I'm really tomboyish, but baking is the only girly thing I do.

I finished packing the cakes as the doorbell rang, and I hurried to answer it, knowing who it was.

"Hey Embry." I said, smiling at him.

"Hey Cherry." Embry said, flashing me a smile back. "Whatever you are baking, it smells great."

Embry was really unlike Jake and Quil. They were both really loud and hilarious, always out to have fun, but Embry wasn't really crazy like that. He was kinda the level-headed and strong one of our group. He stopped us from going too far with our crazy ventures, and he was really strong. You could always look to him when you didn't know what to do.

"Thanks." I said, with a grin. "You ready to go over to Jake's? I'll just grab the cakes."

"Yeah, sure." He said, and walked to the kitchen with me. "You make extra special ones for Bella?" He asked, smirking.

"Oh, ha ha." I said sarcastically. "Don't you remember I hated her when we were kids? She was so annoying back then."

"Actually, I remember you hating her because whenever she came here for the summer, Jake used to spend all his time with her and ignore us a lot." Embry put in.

I looked at Embry, confused. Had that been why I'd never liked Bella? Well, I don't know. Maybe Embry was right, whatever he was saying sounded kinda familiar.

"I don't know."I said, shrugging. 'I don't really remember. All I know is that we are gonna make Jake feel sorry he was ever born when we show up there uninvited."

So yeah, that had been our plan. Show up at Jake's place, act innocent, and embarrass him to bits in front of Bella. Something about the plan appealed to me very much, not just because it would be fun, but maybe it would… well; ruin something between Jake and Bella. And they'd have no chance of being together. I can stand Jake not knowing that I love him, but watching him with someone else? God, I don't even wanna think about it.

I and Embry made a very loud entrance into the garage. I pushed the door open so hard it slammed into the wall on the other side, and Embry kicked a stack of tires by accident, causing them to collapse.

Bella had been mid-laugh, and turned to look at us, mildly amused. Jake looked simply horrified at the sight of us.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jake hissed, not so discreetly.

"Oops, I'm sorry." I said, innocently. "I had no idea you were having someone over, Jake. Are we interrupting something?"

"No, not at all." Bella covered up, before Jake could lose his temper at us. "You should join us. You guys must be Jake's friends."

Oh great, the little bitch calls him Jake. I had to be friends with him for 4 years before he'd let me call him Jake instead of Jacob.

"Yeah, that's us. You're Bella, right?" Embry asked, smiling. "The one Jake was going on and on about yesterday?" he added, looking at me. I grinned back _Good one._

I looked at Bella. She didn't seem too flattered, just a bit confused, and she looked at Jake.

"I-they're joking." Jake stuttered out.

"So." I said, sitting down beside Bella and making myself comfortable. "Any chance you remember us, Bella?" I asked, with a smile.

"Um, Should I?" she asked, looking confused. "I'm sorry, I don't know."

"Well, come on Jake, aren't you gonna introduce us to your _friend_?" I asked him. He was looking _really_ pissed, but he introduced us with forced composure.

"Yeah, um, Bella, these are my friends, Embry and Cherry." Jake said shortly.

'Oh, Cherry!" Bella said, looking very surprised. "Yeah, I… remember you, from when I used to come to Forks for the summer vacations." She looked dazed for a second and I was pretty sure she was remembering all the fights I'd had with her. Well, actually, there'd only been one major one, when I pushed her into the swimming pool during a party.

"Yeah, well, that's the past isn't it?" I said, in a too-sugary voice. "I'm sure we're going to become _wonderful_ friends soon enough. "

Jake did not look like he liked the idea.

'Cherry, didn't you say that you had this huge science project to work on this evening? Maybe you should do it, you don't wanna get into trouble with her." Jake said, looking desperate.

"Science project?" Embry asked, looking confused. "What science project? I thought that wasn't due for another two weeks!"

"Yeah, don't be silly, Jake!" I said, with a fake giggle that was totally unlike me. "Look at you, making stuff up to get rid of us so you can be alone with Bella!"

Jake has never glared at me like that. Ever.

"Has he asked you to be his girlfriend yet?" I asked, turning to Bella.

"Um, no." Bella said, looking embarrassed. "See, it's not like tha-"

"Oh, don't worry, he will." I assured her. "He can get really shy when it comes to girls, so it might take him a little while though."

"You know what?" Embry asked, standing up suddenly. "I just remembered that we have to work on that essay or World Civ. We should hurry up, or we won't get it done." Embry said, grabbing my hand and pulling me up.

"What essay for World Civ- "I began. But he had already dragged me out of the garage.

"What was that for?" I hissed, yanking my hand away from his, and glaring at him.

"I felt bad for him." Embry said simply. "Did you see the look on his face? No one deserves to be humiliated like that, Cherry."

"But I was just starting to have fun!" I whined, as we walked down the street slowly.

There were a few seconds of silence when neither of us said anything, and Embry broke it abruptly.

"I think he really likes her." He said, simply. And that was enough to break my heart. I didn't know what to do. I guess I had known that Jake like Bella all along, but hearing Embry say it was just much worse. All I could do was hide my face from Embry, hoping that he couldn't read my expression.

"You like him though, don't you?' He asked, looking at me. I stared at him. God, he knew. He knew that I'd liked Jake since forever, that I was crazy jealous, and that's why I'd wanted to embarrass him in front of Bella.

"I-um, yeah. Yeah, I do." I admitted. Hiding it wouldn't do anything, Embry could see right through me. We got to my house, and stopped in front of it. "Bye, Embry." I muttered, my voice cracking, and I was in tears by the time I reached the front door. My contacts started burning my eyes, and I took them out, looking back through the window where Embry was still standing. I saw his figure, now blurred because of my tears and because I'd taken out my contact lenses, walk away slowly.


	3. Embry's Actin' Wierd?

**Chapter 3**

I wasn't feeling much better the next morning. That sinking feeling was still there, and I was sure that I would burst into tears at the slightest push. I hurried to grab my backpack as I heard a car honk outside my house, and ran out the front door.

I was about to slide into the backseat of Embry's car as I usually did, when I noticed that the front passenger seat beside Embry was empty. This was weird, because Jake usually sat there. Quil, who sat in the back with me, was missing too. I slid into the front, and turned to Embry.

"Where are Jake and Quil?" I asked, concerned. Embry turned to look at me, and I stared at him in shock. He looked terrible. His face looked tired and exhausted, and there were huge bags under his eyes, which were red.

"Jake's a little mad at you." He said softly, looking worried that I might be upset. But then again, I knew that he would be. I decided that I was gonna go and apologize. Better have Jake as just a friend than have him hate me.

"And what the hell happened to you? You look terrible!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, I don't… I don't feel too good today. I fact, can you drive? I have a headache." He said, scrunching his eyes together in pain.

"Maybe you should have stayed home today." I said, as I switched seats with him, and started the car.

"Nah, I'll be fine. Probably just a bug or something. The flu's been going around for a while. It could be that." Embry waved it off. But I could tell something was wrong. He wasn't telling me everything.

We walked into school together, both me and Embry silent. He looked nervous, and was extremely jumpy. He kept looking around the hallway, as if searching for someone, or trying to avoid them?

"Who are you looking for?" I asked him slowly.

"No one!" he cried, all of a sudden. "I'm not looking for anyone." What is wrong with this guy today?

I went to my locker, and grabbed my books for the first period, and then I went over to Embry, and waited for him to get his stuff. I looked around the hallway, still curious about why Embry was so jumpy today, and my eyes fell on two tall, muscular guys, staring fixedly at Embry. I'd seen them around before, the taller one, Paul, was in my Advanced Math class, and the other one's name I couldn't remember. Was it Josh…. Or maybe James…. No, I think it was Jared.

Why were they staring at Embry like that? People kept away from those guys, mostly because they were kinda scary to look at. And they stayed away from most people as well, I couldn't see any reason why they'd be staring at Embry, he'd never spoken to them before. Had he maybe picked a fight with them? But it wasn't like Embry to pick fights, and Paul and Jared didn't look angry anyway.

"Embry?" I asked, and he turned to look at me, his arms still full of books. "Why are those guys staring at you?"

He turned around to see who I was pointing at, and his face went pale. "I don't know." He whispered, sounding worried. "They've been doing it for a while now."

"Did you pick a fight with them or anything?" I asked, worried. Why would these guys be stalking Embry?

"No!" He cried, looking upset. "Do I usually pick fights with people twice my size? They've been doing it for more than a week now, It's getting creepy."

I didn't pursue the topic any more, but I was worried. Why were they stalking Embry? I tried not to think about it though, and I went to homeroom quickly.

"Heard about what you and Embry did to Jake last night." Quil said with a grin. He slid into the seat next to me in homeroom. He was the only one of our gang that was in the same homeroom as me.

"Yeah…" I said, not really wanting to think about that. It reminded me too much of how Jake might be taken soon, by Bella. I was feeling a bit distracted by Embry's behavior though. "Listen, I'm kinda worried about Embry. Do you think he's okay?"

"He's been acting kinda weird, actually." Quil said, his tone kinda serious. "Said that some guys were watching him. I'm not too sure what he meant though."

"Yeah." I said. 'Paul and Jared were staring at him today."

"Well, that's weird….I hope he hasn't done anything to upset them. They're practically twice his size! Though speaking of which, Embry's getting kinda big too. I get the feeling he's secretly working out or something." Quil said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Aww… is someone jealous of their best friend's muscles?" I teased.

"Oh, shut up." Quil hissed, and we turned away from each other as the teacher glared at us.

The day passed by, and I walked into lunch and sat by Quil.

"Where are Embry and Jake?" I asked him casually.

"Um, Jake had to stay back during Math, Mr. Robin isn't too happy with him." Quil explained. "Embry is over there." He nodded towards the corner of the cafeteria.

Embry was standing there with Paul and Jared. I couldn't see his face, he had his back to me, but Jared and Paul looked kinda sympathetic for a moment. Then their faces turned back to their usual blank emotionless stare that creeped me out a lot. Embry turned around, and walked back to us, his face really pale, and looking like he was gonna be sick.

"Are you okay?" I asked, putting a hand on his arm. "What was that about?"

He flinched at my touch, and turned to look at me.

"I asked them why they were staring at me." Embry said, his voice sounding forcibly controlled.

"Well?" I asked. 'What did they say, then?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Cherry." He replied quietly, and dug into his food. Jake came over with his lunch just then, and sat by Quil after shooting me a glare. I was suddenly distracted from Embry.

"Okay, are you mad at me Jake?" I asked. I couldn't bear to have Jake mad at me. "Because I'm really sorry. It was just fun, I guess I got a little carried away."

"No, it's okay" Jake said, his face softening a little. "I know you guy were joking, it's just… I don't want her to think I'm weird you know?" he said slowly.

I nodded slightly, and turned my attention back to my food. There was a slight pause of conversation at the table.

"Because, you know, I'm younger that her and all… and that really reduces my chances of being with her." Jake burst out suddenly. "I mean, I really like her you guys. It's not just a crush or something. I really like her."

I think my heart just shattered all over again.


	4. The Party Part 1

**(A/N) – Thanks for the reviews guys! They really make me feel more confident about the writing. And I don't mind criticism either, as long as it's honest. It helps me improve. Thanks again!**

**Chapter 4**

Okay, so I'm trying to get over it. Yup, Jake likes Bella. The guy I have liked since practically the seventh grade just announced that he likes another girl. And really likes her. Not just another crush or something. He really likes her. His exact words. The exact words I keep repeating to myself, trying to assure myself that it's not as bad as it really is.

I grabbed my hair and put it up in a ponytail, not caring how messy it looked. There were just a few more minutes until the party at the beach started. It was kinda foggy outside, and the weather forecast said that it might rain a bit, but the party was going ahead anyway. People were used to the rain here.

I ran downstairs and pulled on my old battered sneakers. Jake was gonna be at the party, and usually I might have tried a little harder just to look good for him. But there was no point now. He'd be daydreaming about Bella the whole time anyway. The little bi- No. Don't insult her. It's not her fault, it's my own problem, and I can't go round swearing at her just cause it makes me feel better.

I jogged down to Embry's house, and knocked the door. He promised that he'd walk to the beach with me. We would have taken his car, but the beach was close enough to walk to. Embry opened the door, looking just as exhausted and bad as he did this morning.

"Okay." I said, looking at him. "You are _not_ coming to the party. You look terrible!"

"I'm fine. " Embry insisted, sounding more like he was convincing himself than me. "I'm fine. I can come to the party."

"No, you really can't." I insisted. Couldn't he see how sick he looked? "Embry, I think you should stay home and rest for a while. The party's not that big of a deal."

"I'm fine, Cherry. I wanna come to the party, okay?" He said.

"Embry, I'm not letting you. Have you even looked in the mirror?" I asked him. How could he think that he was fit to go to the party like this?

"I _said_ that I'm fine! Why the hell can't you understand me?" He yelled, losing his temper. I took a step away from him, in shock. Embry didn't yell. Embry _never_ yelled. "Oh, god." He said, looking surprised at himself. "Cherry, I'm so- I'm sorry, I can't believe that I did that."

"No, I… Its okay, Embry. Really." I assured him. I wasn't mad that he had yelled, but I was worried. Something was really wrong with him.

"No, it's not okay. I shouldn't have done that. I can't believe…" he looked worried and tense.

"Embry, just forget it. Let's go to the party okay?" I asked, and he nodded. We started to walk down the street.

"So, um… why do you look like you just got out of bed?" Embry asked casually, trying to lighten the mood after the awkward moment.

"Oh, come on, I don't look that bad do I? I didn't put much effort into dressing up or something. It's just a beach party, right? We have them practically every week." I said casually.

Embry looked like he didn't believe me.

"Are you sure? Or does this have something to do with Jacob's announcement this afternoon at lunch?"

"I… what?" I asked. I was surprised that Embry was mentioning that. "Why would you think that?"

"Maybe because you admitted that you liked him the other night? Cherry, it's kinda obvious to everyone but him." Embry said sympathetically.

"Yeah, okay, I do like him. And I'm jealous of Bella. Happy?" I asked annoyed.

"Not exactly. Cherry, I'm trying to help. I know what it's like to like someone that only thinks of you as a friend. But… Bella's not really the one for him. She doesn't like him that way, you can tell. In fact, I think she's using him." Embry said.

"Using him?" I asked slowly. "What do you mean?"

"You know the Cullens? The ones who live in the big fancy house in Forks?" Embry asked me.

"Yeah, I know them. I went to a couple of times, when I broke my leg a few years ago." I said, wondering what the Cullens had to do with it.

"Well, according to what Jake told me, Bella used to go out with one of them. Edward, apparently. Dr. Cullen's son. And then he ditched her, because they left town a while back." Embry said.


	5. The Party Part 2

**A/N - Sorry about the abrupt ending! my MS Word went totally wacko, and it stopped letting me type! So Now I've gott use notepad, which is freakin' annoying, cause it hasn't got all the features! Anyway, here's the story! Sorry about that!**

**Chapter 5**

"So... hold that thought a second." I said, looking up at Embry. "She's using him as a rebound! That is so low! How can he not realize that?

"I don't know." Embry said sadly. " Something tells me he does, but he doesn't care."

"Not possible." I said firmly, as we walked onto the beach. "Jake's not that stupid."

We walked into the center of the beach, where loads of people were sitting in groups with drinks and chatting and laughing. I glanced around and saw Quil, and waved him over to us.  
"Quil! Over here!" I called, and he joined us.

"Hey Cherry, Embry." Quil replied. "Whoa... Embry you look awful!"

'So I've heard." Embry muttered, ignoring Quil.

"So where's Jake?" I asked Quil eagerly. This was the only chance I'd probably get to hang with Jake without Bella being around and ruining things.

"You don't wanna know..." Embry muttered again, before Quil could reply. I stared at him, wondering what he meant, and then followed his gaze over the waterline. Oh no. He did NOT invite that little bitch!

"Where are you going?" Quil asked doubtfully, as I started to walk.

"To yank the lovebirds out of dreamland." I mumbled, and went over to join Bella and Jake. "Hey guys. I said cheerfully, sitting on Jake's other side. "What a surprise to see you here, Bella!"

"Umm, Jake invited me here last minute." She said, looking slightly uncomfortable at my prescence.

"Really? That's cool, Jake, I guess you're introducing her to the La Push ways huh? Since she's an outsider and all." I said, my voice a little cold, but Jake didn't notice it.

"Yeah, Bella was kinda interested in the whole La Push legends and stuff. I was gonna invite her to the next bonfire too." Jake said casually, smiling at me.

"Really? How sweet of you. " I said through gritted teeth.

"Um, Jake, i'm just gonna get somehting to drink, yeah?" Bella asked slowly, and got up.

"Oh, you want me to get it for you?" Jake asked, ever-willing to help.

"No, it's all right, you guys stay here."

"She's just awesome, isn't she?" Jake asked me dreamily after Bella had gotten out of earshot.

"Yeah." I said sarcastically. "Simply unbelievable."

"I really want to ask her out sometime." He said, oblivious to my sarcastic tone.

"Really?" I asked, hurt. "I'm... not too sure she's your type, Jake."

"Oh, she totally is!" Jake assured me. "I'm just not sure how to do it. I mean, you're a girl, right?" he asked, his face brightening. "How would a girl want a guy to ask her out?"

"I... I'm not too sure, Jake." I said, hesitantly. "Maybe you should just be yourself. But are you sure you should do it this soon? I mean, I heard rumours about her not getting over that Cullen guy."

"Oh, but she told me that I make her feel happier, and forget about Cullen!" Jake said, happily. "She said that she really likes my prescence."

"Jake." I said taking a deep breath. "Don't get mad at me for suggesting this, but... doesn't it sound as if she's using you? As a rebound?"

"What! No!" Jake cried, looking astonished. "She's not so bad, Cherry. Just cause you guys used to fight when you were kids doesn't mean that everything she does is bad."

"Yeah... I get you." I lied, and I stood up slowly. "You know what? I'm gonna get back to Quil and Embry."

"But what about Bella?' Jake asked, worriedly. "I mean, the asking out thing? I was hoping for more advice."

"Be yourself Jake." I repeated. "It's the way I like you best, anyway."

"He's obsessed." I replied quietly, as I walked back to Quil and Embry. "He wouldn't even listen to me when I suggested she might be using him as a rebound."

Embry looked at me sympathetically, but I glared right back at him. I didn;t want sympathy, not now.

"I think he's throwing himself off the deep end." Quil said simply. "I don't really like Bella all that much."

"She's bad news." Embry agreed, and I kept silent. I felt like if I opened my mouth, I wouldn't be able to stop myself crying."He's just being an idiot, Cherry." Embry said softly when Quil was turned the other way. "He'll get over it."

"You know what?" I said softly. "I don't even wanna stick around any more. There's this new recipe I saw on t.v this morning for lemon cakes. I think I'll get home early and try it out."

"I'll walk home with you, if you want." Embry offered. "Yeah... that would be nice." I said, and we left the beach.

"You know, he's gonna get some sense sooner or later." Embry said, as we walked in the street. There were a few people around, most from the party, but none of them paid any attention to us, they were too busy getting themselves trashed. Broken alcohol bottles littered the floor, and I couldn't help but kick a piece into the bushes to vent my anger.

"You'll find someone better, Cherry." Embry continued.

'I know, Embry." I said, finally getting the courage to speak. "It's just... hard. I can't help but get those butterflies in my stomach when I see him, and I can't help it. Sometimes I wanna forget all about it, but I can't. I don't think i could bear it if they went out. I mean, if she really liked him, that would be a different thing. But she;s using him, Embry! And he doesn't even know it!"

"I know." Embry said, in that soothing voice that always relaxed me. "But he will realize it, Cherry. Don't worry about that."

"I don't know..." I said with a sigh. A drunk guy suddenly came up to us, and interuppted my thought by grabbing my hand.

"Ello, love." he said, his voice slurring. "Try a pint?"

"Get away." Embry growled. Wait, did I just think that? Embry GROWLED?

'Aw, don't be such a sourpuss!" the drunk guy insisted, looking at Embry.

"Let go of her." Embry hissed, grabbing the guy's hand, and yanking it so it let go of mine. The guy looked startled and walked away, frightened.  
I looked up at Embry to thank him, but what I saw was a very strange sight. Embry was shanking all over, his teeth gritted tightly, looking like he was about to explode.

"E-Embry?" I stammered, placing a hand on his arm.

"DON'T!" Embry yelled, yanking his arm away. "Get out of here, Cherry!"

"What?" I asked, starting to get scared. "Embry, what's going -"

"Cherry, just run, right now! RUN!" he yelled, and I froze, staring at him, as he shook even more violently. "RUN!" He yelled again, and I did. I ran.

**A/N - Yeah, I know, it's not that much of a cliffhanger since we all know thta he's shaking cause he's gonna phase. So just bear with me though, yeah? I know It's not thta great, but I'm kinda blank right now, i'm having a serious case of writer's block! **


	6. Looking for Embry

**A/N - Thanks for the support guys! Your comments have really been motivationg for me. I know this chapter is boring, but the next one should have a little more drama. **

**Chapter 6 **

I had nightmares that night. Really horrible nightmares.

They started off with Embry shaking like he did last night, and then all of a sudden losing control and leaping on me. Then all of a sudden Embry turned into Bella. Except she didn't look like Bella. She started advancing onto me, getting closer, and her sharp teeth glistening in the moonlight. I woke up hyperventilating, to the sound of a wolf howling outside my house, from the woods beyond.

So really, it's no wonder I was feeling jittery this morning.

"What's wrong, Cheryl?" Mom asked me at the breakfast table. "That's the third time you nearly spilled the milk this morning. Are you all right?"

"Of course Mom." I insisted. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Well, what are you planning to do today?" she asked, referring to the fact that it was Saturday. She wanted to know whether I would be at Jake, Quil or Embry's house or if I was going out anywhere with any of them.

"I don't know mom." I said. "We haven't made any plans yet."

I wasn't too sure what I should do. I didn't really want to visit Jake that much, and Embry wasn't really on top of my list after last night. I wasn't too sure exactly what had happened, and somehow I wanted to keep it that way, but I was worried about him. I wanted to make sure he was all right, so I gathered up my courage and walked to his house.

"Oh, hello Cheryl dear." Mrs. Call greeted me at the door. "It's quite early, isn't it?"

"Sorry, Mrs. Call." I said with an apologetic smile. "I just wanted to see Embry. He seemed a little weird last night, and I just wanted to know if he was all right."

"Oh, he's fine dear, nothing out of the ordinary, but you've just missed him. He left for the beach a few minutes ago, with some friends." Mrs. Call informed me.

"His friends?" I asked, slightly confused. "You mean Jake and Quil?" That was weird; I didn't think that the 3 of them would go to the beach without inviting me too.

"I suppose so…. I'm not entirely sure." She said, looking distracted now. "Now, if you'll excuse me dear. I've really got a lot to do."

I nodded, and left. I didn't believe her. Mrs. Call was always so busy with her work that she had practically no time for her son. I wouldn't be surprised if Embry hadn't even turned up at home last night, and she hadn't noticed.

I walked to the beach. It was a pleasant day outside, and I enjoyed the walk, but I couldn't help this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach, telling me that something was terribly wrong.

I couldn't see anyone there, on an early Saturday morning, and I sat down near the water, keeping an eye out for Embry, Jake and Quil. The wind blew my hair around my face, and I was having trouble stopping it form flapping around everywhere. I heard footsteps a distance from me, and turned around to see a group of about 4 tall, tanned, muscular boys, 1 of them a man, standing a little way away from me. I recognized two of them as Paul and Jared, but the other two were completely unfamiliar to me.

I turned away, trying to ignore them, but I could tell that all of them were staring at me. I turned around, gave them a small glare, and got up and left quickly. I didn't want to be there with them around, who knew what sort of ideas they were getting.

"Cherry?" Quil asked into the phone.

"Oh hey Quil," I said, sticking the phone to my ear and pressing my shoulder to it so that it didn't fall down while I used both hands to stir the bowl of batter in my arms. "What's up?"

"Listen, Cherry… I'm kind of worried. Have you seen Embry today?" he asked me.

I nearly dropped the bowl.

"What? Wasn't he with you guys this morning? That's what his mom told me, that he went out with some friends." I cried.

"Well, if he did, it wasn't with us. I didn't even get up till afternoon, and Jake went down to Forks with Billy today." Quil said. "I called round at Embry's place, but no one was there."

'That's….. What? Quil, I don't understand. Where would Embry go without telling us?" I asked.

"I don't know. Cherry, I'm kind of worried about him. He's been looking awful for a few days… like he hasn't got any sleep. And then there's the whole matter of those guys from school staring at him. He wouldn't even tell me what they said when he went up to them."

"You think this has something to do with that?" I asked remembering those guys from the beach today. "Quil, how many people do they have in their gang?"

"Umm… what do you mean? As far as I know, there's just Paul, Jared and Sam Uley." Quil replied, sounding confused.

"Quil, I went to the beach this morning looking for Embry and I saw them there. There were four of them." I said slowly.

"Cherry, you don't think…."

"No, of course not! I would have recognized Embry wouldn't I?" I insisted. "He definitely wasn't there. They were all way too tall and muscular…. Creepy looking actually, you know how they are!"

"Yeah, of course…. You know, I think we're just overreacting." Quil said. "He'll probably turn up and give us a perfectly good explanation of where he went."

"Of course he will." I said, though I wasn't as sure. Quil didn't know how Embry had behaved last night, but I wasn't about to tell him. "He'll turn up. He has to."


	7. Found Him!

**Chapter 7**

Embry didn't turn up.

Me and Quil looked practically _everywhere_. Jake got back from Forks on Saturday evening, after a long and apparently very enjoyable day with Bella, and he helped us search too, though he wasn't of much use, he just kept going on about Bella. We waited all of Sunday. Embry's cell phone was switched off, his mom had no clue where he'd gone, and after ringing the doorbell a few times, she got annoyed and asked us to leave.

"He has to turn up today." Quil declared. "I mean, he's not going to miss school, is he? He has to turn up."

"Of course he will." I assured Quil, but I wasn't feeling too sure myself. What if he didn't?

"He's here." Quil said. "He has to be here somewhere."

"God, would you shut up? I think you're overdoing it." Jake snapped. "He'll be here, okay?"

I looked around the hallway hopefully, my eyes stopping several times at Embry's locker, but I couldn't see him anywhere. Where was he?

"I'm getting to class." Jake declared. "I'll see you guys during lunch, yeah?"

'Sure." Quil said disappointment evident in his voice. He hadn't spotted Embry anywhere either.

"He's probably just late." I assured Quil. "He oversleeps a lot, doesn't he?"

"Yeah… yeah, that's just it."

I made my way to Bio, keeping an eye out the whole time for Embry, in case I saw him. I walked into the bio class, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I sat down with a sigh, and pulled out my pencil as the teacher walked into the class.

"Good morning, everyone." She smiled enthusiastically. Everyone gave her a dull response, and she turned to the whiteboard and started writing on it. "Now, we're going to be finishing off the Endoplasmic Reticulum today, as you know, it's divided into two types – "

She was interrupted by the door banging open, and 3 tall, muscular, creepy looking guys entering.

"Well, thank you for gracing us with your presence, Paul and Jared." Mrs. Smith snapped angrily. I rolled my eyes and continued writing down the notes. Paul and Jared entering late was a routine.

"And dear goodness, Embry, you as well?" Mrs. Smith said in surprise.

I dropped my pen. _What?_

I didn't know what to do. I just sat there and stared into the back of his head as he sat down in front of me, next to Jared. This wasn't Embry. It wasn't. It couldn't be.

He'd _changed._ There just wasn't any other word for it. He'd changed. He looked like a…. I don't even know how to describe it. He looked like _them_. It had been him on the beach the other day, but I hadn't recognized him then. And his _hair_. Oh good lord, what had he done to his _hair_?

I couldn't concentrate on another word during class, I just kept thinking about Embry. Questions went round and round in my head. What the hell was going on? Why did he look like he'd started taking steroids? Why was he with Paul and Jared? Hadn't he been shit scared of them 3 days ago? And what the hell had prompted him to do that to his _hair_?

The bell rang and he got out of his seat along with Paul and Jared. I followed them in silence to the door, until Paul and Jared turned right, and Embry turned left towards his locker. I stared at his back for a few seconds, torn between whether to go up to him or ignore him. Then I made my decision in a split –second. I'd been friends with him since nearly the fifth grade, I wasn't going to lose him now because he'd cut his freaking hair.

"Embry!" I called, and jogged to catch up to him. I saw him stiffen at the sound of my voice, and he stopped walking and turned around.

"Cherry." He muttered, not meeting my eyes.

"Embry are you okay? Where were you all weekend? What the hell did you do to your hair?" I asked him rapidly.

"Cherry, I can't talk right now." Embry said softly, looking uncomfortable. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Paul and Jared standing across the hall looking at us.

"Why can't you talk?" I demanded. "Because they're looking? Cause I really don't give a damn, Embry. Do you know how worried I and Quil were? You disappeared the entire weekend. And after the way you acted on Friday night! What was that, anyway? You looked like you were about to explode! Embry, we're worried about you, I want to know what's going on!" I cried, letting out all my frustration in one go.

"Cherry, not now." Embry hissed. He still wasn't looking me in the eyes, and this annoyed me a lot somehow.

"Why won't you look me in the eyes? And why the hell can't you explain now? I'm asking a lot of questions, Embry, but I haven't received a single answer." I steamed.

"Look, Cherry, I'll explain okay? But not here. And not now." Embry said. "You've got to understand, please."

I looked at him doubtfully, not sure what to say. I didn't get why he couldn't tell me right now.

"All right." I decided then. "You can explain everything during lunch."

"I….I can't sit with you guys during lunch." Embry said slowly, as if he was scared of how I'd take the news. "I have to sit with Paul and Jared."

"You _have _to sit with Paul and Jared?" I asked icily. "You _have_ to? Embry, nobody's making you do it! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You don't understand!" Embry said loudly. I could tell he was losing his temper, and he started to shake violently, a little like he had after the party the other day. "I can't hang out with you guys anymore, okay? Things are different now, I've changed!" His voice grew louder with each word, and the final one came out as a yell. I took a few shaky steps away from him, frightened. Everyone in the hallway had turned to stare at both of us.

"Embry, you're scaring me." I mumbled, not able to look at him in the eyes. "Stop it."

He relaxed a little, his shoulders slumping. I looked up at him, and was shocked when I saw how he looked. His eyes were red, and there were dark circles under his eyes. His whole body was slumped form exhaustion, and I could see how horrible he felt.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. "Cherry, I'm so sorry, I-"

But he didn't get to finish, because Paul and Jared had made their way over to us. Paul grabbed hold of Embry's upper arm, and started to pull on it. I saw a flash of anger in Embry's eyes, I expected him to yank his arm away and scream at Paul the way he had at me. But he simply looked at me apologetically, his eyes willing me to understand what he couldn't say out loud. And he went with Paul and Jared willingly.


	8. Confrontation

**Chapter 8 **

"What happened there?" Quil hissed at me, as I entered the lunch hall. I slid into the seat beside him, my head in my hands.

"I don't know." I whispered my voice cracking. I didn't know what was going on, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. Right now, I just felt helpless.

'Did Embry just yell at you in the hallway?" Jake asked, sliding into a seat opposite me. "Embry doesn't yell! And what's with the sudden growth spurt? And the hair? And he's sitting with Paul and Jared!"

"I'm just as clueless as you are." I replied, feeling tears come to my eyes.

"Hey, Cherry, just chill out." Quil said softly, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this. Embry would never act like that."

"Well, I think he's being an ass." Jake put in. I ignored him.

"What kind of reasonable explanation could he have, Quil?" I asked. My voice sounded panicked, and I knew I was freaking out. "What could possibly make him ignore us, and lose his temper right in the middle of the hallway like that? And the growth spurt? That's not even human, Quil, nobody can grow that fast!"

"I can't explain the growth spurt." Quil said. "But I do know that those guys are no good. Maybe they're doing something to Embry….."

"What, some kind of alien mind control?" Jake joked. I resisted the urge to slap him in the face.

"He's not getting away with this." I muttered. "Embry needs help, whether he knows it or not. I'm not giving up my best friend without a fight. And first, he's going to tell us exactly what the hell happened to him. You guys in it with me?"

"Of course." Quil said.

"Well then, let's go over to his place this afternoon. The only reason he's hesitant to talk to us is because Paul and Jared are always around at school. We need to corner him without them." I said.

"Umm, does it have to be today?" Jake asked hesitantly. "Cause, you know, Bella's coming over today."

I stared at him.

"Okay, you know what Jake, me and Cherry are going to be very frank with you." Quil began. "I'm glad you got the girl man, and you're getting some action unlike the rest of us, but we exist too. And what's going on with Embry is a little more serious than your girlfriend."

Jake stared at us for a few seconds.

"Fine." He said finally. "I'll bring her along.'

Oh god.

I jogged over to Jake's place at around 4 that afternoon. I was going to catch a ride with him and Bella to Quil's place, and we were all going to head over to Embry's from there.

"Hey Billy.' I said, walking into Jake's living room. Billy was in front of the TV in his wheelchair, and Bella was sitting on the couch. Jake was nowhere to be seen. I ignored Bella.

"Cheryl, hello dear." Billy said, giving me a smile. "Jake said you were coming- I was hoping you would bring more of those amazing cookies!"

"Oh, shoot, sorry Billy, I forgot!" I said. "I'll make some more tonight and bring them here for sure."

"Great." Billy said with a smile. 'So where are you all headed?"

"Embry's place." I said. "He's been acting weird lately and we're going to find out why."

"I see." Billy said.

"So where's Jake? We should hurry up." I said.

"He's coming." Bella replied. I acted like I hadn't heard her.

Jake came in two seconds later.

"Oh, Cherry, you're here." He said. "Come on, let's get going."

We picked up Quil from his place, and stopped outside Embry's.

"Here we are." Quil said. "Why am I having second thoughts about this?"

"We don't have time for your second thoughts." I said, getting out of the car. "Are you guys coming, or not? Bella, you don't have to if you don't want to." I said, hoping she'd get the hint.

"No, it's fine, I'll come." Bella said. So much for hints.

We went up to Embry's door, and Quil stepped forward to knock. Jake was hanging at the back with Bella, and that really pissed me off for some reason. He was acting like Embry didn't matter.

Embry opened the door, and stared in shock at all of us.

"W-what are you doing here?" he asked, his eyes widening.

"You going to let us in so that we can talk?" I demanded.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea…." Embry began, looking hesitant.

"Fine." I said. "We can settle the matter on the front porch. What the hell is going on with you, Embry?" I snapped. I was losing my temper a little, seeing Embry stand there like he had no clue what was going on.

"Cherry, cool it.' Quil hissed at me. "Embry, we're worried about you, man. You're acting really weird, and we want to help. You need to tell us what's going on." He continued kindly.

"I'm fine.' Embry said. "You guys don't need to worry about me, okay? I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." I said. "You look awful."

"Look, you guys don't understand, okay? You need to leave, you can't be here." Embry snapped.

"No, we're not going to freaking leave." I said. "Not until you tell us what is going on."

"I can't do that."

"Well, too bad, we're going to stay here until you change your mind."

There was an awkward pause.

"Please leave.' Embry said.

"No." I said. "I told you, we're not leaving till you tell us what's going on."

"Fine." Embry snapped. "I'm going to do this the hard way." He was shaking a little, and Quil backed away quickly as Embry's shaking grew more violent. I wanted to run away, but I knew that it wouldn't settle anything.

"Embry, please." I pleaded, my voice growing soft. I put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down. "Embry, I'm worried about you. We can't understand what's going on, please, Embry. Just tell us, we're doing this cause we care about you." I whispered.

Embry slowly stopped shaking.

"Things are different now." Embry snapped. "We can't be friends anymore, and I don't wanna be friends with you guys. I don't care anymore. Get over it."

And he slammed the door shut in our faces.

We all walked in silence back to Jake's car, Quil with an arm around my shoulder because I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my face.


	9. It's Jake's Turn!

**Chapter 9**

The next few days were hell for me and Quil. I gave up following Embry around and trying to figure out what the hell was up with him. We accepted that he was gone for good, that he didn't care about us, and he wasn't coming back. Still didn't make it much easier.

We hardly saw Jake anymore, except during lunch at school. Even then, he looked really exhausted. I felt really bad for him, somehow I had a feeling it was to do with Bella. He pestered me during lunch, asking for advice on how to do this, and how he should approach Bella for that. It was torture, hearing him talk about her that way, but he didn't notice.

"Mom, I'm headed to Billy's!" I called, as I grabbed the plate of bakes. I'd tried out extra chocolate brownies today, and I was on my way to take them to my best taste-tester, Billy. It used to be Embry, but he wasn't exactly around anymore.

"Hey Billy!" I called, walking into Jacob's house. I looked around the living room. "Wait… you're not Billy," I said, spotting Bella and Jacob hanging around the living room. Jake was spread out on the sofa and Bella was beside him.

"Hey Cherry." Jake said, sitting up. "What are you doing here?"

"Double chocolate brownies." I said, holding the brownies up. "Umm, I wanted Billy to taste them."

"Oh, he's in the kitchen." Jake told me.

"Right." I said. "Well, um, what are you guys up to, then?"

"We were just headed to a movie." Bella said smugly. "With a few of my friends."

"Yeah, you should come too." Jake said, while Bella glared at me.

"That sounds good!" I said, about to accept. But I stopped myself quickly. I did wanna get even with Bella, but it wasn't worth sitting through a whole movie watching Bella and Jacob cuddle beside me. "But I can't. Um, mom wants me home tonight."

"Oh, that's too bad." Bella said. "Maybe next time?"

"Definitely next time." I agreed. I went into the kitchen, to go find Billy.

"Cherry! Are those brownies I smell?" Billy asked. He was in the kitchen, and wheeled himself over to me.

"Yup!" I said with a grin. I set the brownies on the table, and Billy took one. "What do you think?"

"Amazing." Billy said his mouth full. "I don't know how you do it!"

"It's easy, you should try it sometime!" I said. "But, um, just so you know, I refuse to be the first one to taste them."

"Now that, that was a very rude jab at my cooking skills." Billy retorted.

I spent an hour or two at Billy's that night, he was practically like my dad, and I loved him. He sucked at cooking though, so I ended up being that one that made dinner.

I was on my way home, walking in the dark, with only the light of a streetlamp, when I noticed Jacob coming down the street.

"Hey Jake!" I called. "You're back soon, how was the movie?"

I only had to take one proper look at him to realize that something was wrong. "Jacob, are you okay? You-you're shaking, really badly."

"Just stay away from me." He muttered

"What? Jacob, don't-"

"Just STAY AWAY!" he yelled, running away from me.

I sped home as fast as possible, a little scared. The next day, Jacob didn't turn up at school.

A weird sense of déjà vu was starting to set in.

"Not possible, Cherry." Quil was saying "Jacob has not gone off like Embry, okay? I talked to Billy; he told me Jacob got the flu."

"But you didn't see him last night, Quil!" I insisted. "He acted the same way Embry did, all right? I don't know what's going on, but it's sure as hell not the flu!"

"Yes, it is!" Quil yelled, looking angry. "Why won't you accept that? Jacob's not gonna do to us what Embry did! "

"But, Quil-"

"You're just being paranoid!" Quil yelled, and walked away from me, shaking. I followed him, refusing to lose the one friend I had that was actually acting normal.

"No way, Quil, you are not walking away from me." I snapped, grabbing his arm and making him turn around. "I need you now, cause quite frankly, Embry's gone, Jake's ditched us for Bella, and I don't have anyone else but you."

Quil's expression softened.

"You're right." He mumbled. "I'm sorry. We need to stick together through this one."

"Thank you." I said. "Now, I say we get to school right now. If Jake doesn't turn up, like I think he won't we go over to his house, and figure out what the hell is going on."

Quil nodded, keeping his eyes to the floor.

"Quil?' I asked slowly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He said. His voice sounded distant.

"Promise me you'll never do it." I whispered.

"What?' Quil asked, looking confused. "Do what?"

"What Embry did, and what Jake is about to do. Promise you'll never join them, no matter what they say or do." I said. I wasn't going to lose all my friends.

"I promise." Quil said. He gave me a quick hug, and we got into his car to get to school.


	10. Over to Jake's

**Chapter 10**

I was right. Jake didn't turn up.

Sticking to the plan, me and Quil went to Jake's house after school. I made Quil help me bake a bit of fruitcake beforehand, though. I felt that maybe it might help in coaxing Billy or Jake to talk to us. I'd wrapped what was left of the fruitcake in aluminum foil (Quil had a go at it before I could wrap it up).

"Hi Billy!" I said, seeing the man in the wheelchair open the door. I held up the package of fruitcake in front of my face. "Guess what I made!"

Billy looked at me and Quil. He looked a little drowsy, and there was a bruise on his face.

"Not a good time, kids." Billy said. The sight of the fruitcake didn't seem to help at all. I let it fall loosely to my side. "Jake's not feeling too good right now,"

"We heard." Quil said. "We wanted to see him, and maybe give him some of him homework. You know, that he missed at school today?"

"He's not feeling like visitors now." Billy explained. "And he's definitely not up for homework."

"Not even fruitcake?"

"No, sweetheart."

I looked at Quil, and we exchanged a glance.

"Okay, Billy, we're going to be straight." Quil said. "Something weird is going on, and we want to know what. Does this have anything to do with Sam Uley and his gang?"

Billy narrowed his eyes at us.

"I think you two had better leave." He said. "You don't need to involve in this, and you're not going to get anything out of me. You're also not going to see Jake, because he's not here."

And with that, Billy gently closed the door.

"Do you believe me now?" I demanded, turning to Quil. "Something is up with Jake, and it has to do with Sam Uley."

"I think we should talk to him." Quil said.

"Who?"

"Sam Uley."

"Are you crazy?" I asked. "And let him know we're on his case? Quil, Sam Uley isn't going to help us, he's not on our side!"

"Well, what do you want to do then?" Quil asked. "Wait for Jake to turn up? If it's true that he's going the same way as Embry, why would he speak to us? Embry made it clear that he didn't care."

I was about to respond when my phone rang. I saw that the caller ID was an unknown number.

"Who is it?" Quil asked.

I shrugged, and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi! Cherry, is that you?" a girl's voice said.

"Yeah…. Who's' this?"

"It's me, Bella."

My eyes widened. Bella?

"Um, hey Bella. Can I help you?"

"Yeah… I was trying to call Jake a while ago, but he wasn't answering. Billy told me he got mono. Is he okay? Do you know where he is?"

"Oh, Jake's fine." I lied. "I and Quil went to see him a while ago. I don't know why he wouldn't be answering your calls."

"Oh.' Bella said, sounding a little hurt. "Well, he left kind of abruptly last night after the movie… can you ask him to call me back later? I need to talk to him.'

"I'll pass on the message." I said. "Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up, and saw Quil looking at me awkwardly.

"That was Bella?" he asked.

"Yup." I said, slipping the phone into my pocket. "And she's more clueless about Jake than we are."

"Great." Quil muttered.

I woke up feeling drowsy the next morning. Deciding that a nice jog and some fresh air would help me wake up, I pulled on some sweats, a t-shirt and jogged down the beach with my i-pod. It felt good, and I sat on the sand, listening to music, when I saw them. Embry was the first one I recognized, because he was looking straight at me when I noticed him. Then came Sam, Paul, Jared, and finally…. Jacob. Wow. He looked amazing. His transformation was evident like Embry's; long hair cut short, huge muscles. And they were walking around shirtless.

"You!" I burst out loudly before thinking. 4 more pairs of eyes shot to look at me along with Embry's, and I instantly regretted it. Except I'd already gotten their attention, what more could I lose? Pulling my headphones out of my ears, I dropped my i-pod on the sand where I'd been sitting, and stomped over to them.

"And what does Shorty want?" Paul asked, smiling at me, as though he found something amusing about the situation.

I glared at him.

"I am 5 foot 6." I snapped at him. "That is not short. Though I suppose compared to the freakishly tall _thing_ you refer to as your body, even the Eiffel Tower would feel intimidated."

"Ooh, snap! She got you man!" Jared said, in his unrealistically gruff voice.

Paul didn't seem to like this.

"I really don't think you should be starting a fight here, Cheryl." Sam said. He was the only one who sounded even, and controlled. Kind of mature. What a jackass.

"I'm not here to pick a fight." I snapped. I looked at Jacob and Embry. Jake looked confused, while Embry was giving me these guilty puppy-dog eyes. "In fact, I- I'm not sure why I'm here. Sorry."

I started to walk away, regretting going up to them. What had I been thinking? Embry had made it clear he didn't want me and Quil. Why was I following him like a desperate puppy?

Shaking my head, I jogged home without looking back. Although I could swear I heard Embry call my name.


	11. The Truth is Revealed

**Chapter 11**

I moped about the house for most of the day. I would have spent time with Quil, but he was too busy with some family issues at home.

"Sweetheart?" Mom called, walking into my room. "I want to talk to you."

"Sure, mom." I said, sitting up. I suppose I could count myself lucky to have a relatively happy family life. My dad was Quileute, born and raised on the reservation. My mom, on the other hand, was white. I was an only child, and my parents both loved me. Sure, not to the point that I was pampered like a spoilt brat, but I could barely complain about anything.

"Are you okay? You've been moping around the house all day. Why don't you go spend some time with your friends?"

"They're all busy." I said. It wasn't a lie – I just didn't wanna go through all the Embry and Jake stuff with my mom.

"Well, why don't we do something, then? We could go down to Port Angeles, do a little bit of shopping? You want some any clothes?"

"No thanks, mom." I said. "I appreciate it, but I'm not in the mood. Things aren't… great between me and the guys."

"Okay." Mom said. "Well, I still think you should do something. Go out for a walk?"

"It's raining, mom."

"Right. Sorry. Well, if you want to do something, just tell me, okay?"

"You got it."

Mom looked like she was going to ask more, but I was saved by the doorbell ringing from downstairs. I scrunched my eyes together? Who could it be on a Saturday afternoon? Dad was working overtime on Saturdays, and I didn't know anyone who would call.

"I'll get it." I said, sliding off my bed and going downstairs. I could see through the window that the rain was coming down harder, making a loud pattering noise. I yanked the door open, and my mouth dropped to the floor.

"Hey." Embry said. He was standing on the front porch, dripping wet. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of jeans, and he was giving me a sheepish smile.

"What the- how'd you- did you just _walk _here? In the pouring rain, are you nuts?" I blurted out.

"Well, I ran, actually." Embry said, looking a little embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I was hoping we could talk. Can I come in?"

"Are you kidding me?" I asked "Looking like that? My mom would have a heart attack." I said, referring to his half-naked and wet state. My mom had never had a problem with the fact that all my best friends were guys, and I wasn't going to give her a reason to start.

"Look, Cherry, I need to tell you something." Embry said. He looked really nervous. "I want to talk to you, please."

I stared at him for a few seconds while he just stood there. He didn't even seem to be cold even though he was soaked.

"Wait for me in the garage." I said. "I'll meet you there in 2."

Embry nodded, and turned around, heading to the garage. I stepped in, and went back upstairs to mom.

"Who was it, sweetie?" she asked.

"Nobody - probably one of the kids down the street playing a trick." I said. "Um, mom, I'm headed to the grocery store. I wanna bake, and we're out of eggs."

"Okay." Mom said. She looked glad that I was doing something. "Just be careful. It's raining."

"I will." I said, before slipping back downstairs. I quickly ran to the garage without getting too wet, and entered to see Embry waiting for me.

"Hey." He said.

"This better be good." I snapped. "I just lied to my mom for you."

"I'm sorry."

"For making me lie to my mom?"

"No. For everything. Ditching you, yelling at you telling you that I didn't need you…. That was a lie by the way." Embry said. He looked guilty, and upset, and I felt that I had to believe him.

"A lie you didn't have to tell." I said.

"True." Embry said. "But it made things easier. At the time, at least."

"How the hell did that make things easier? Embry, it ruined our friendship! Do you know how many sleepless nights me and Quil spent over you ditching us? I mean, you, of all people? I would have believed it if Jacob had done it, which he has, but you? You've always been the one that I looked up to." I snapped.

"I'm sorry." Embry said.

"Sorry doesn't cut it." I snapped back.

There was a few seconds of silence.

"What do I have to do?" Embry asked. "To get you to forgive me."

"I don't know." I snapped. "Why do you want my forgiveness anyway? And where's Jake? Shouldn't he be here with you?"

"I'm the one here apologizing. Not Jake. I want to know what I have to do to get you to forgive me." Embry said.

"So Jake doesn't even care?" I asked, feeling hurt.

"Look, why do you have to bring Jake into this?" Embry yelled. "This is about me and you, can you just forget about him for a freaking second?"

I took a step back at Embry's outburst.

"I'm sorry." Embry said instantly. "I'm so sorry, Cherry, I didn't mean that."

"Of course you didn't." I said, my voice shaking. What was wrong with him?

"Cherry, please…. I'm so sorry."

"What happened to you?" I asked. "Tell me what happened, Cherry."

"I-I can't do that."

"You wanted my forgiveness. And I want to know what happened to you. What did they say to you, what have they got you taking?" I demanded.

"It's not like that. It's not like that at all; they're good guys, Cher."

"Just tell me.'

"You wouldn't believe me." Embry said, averting his eyes. He looked ashamed.

"Embry." I said, taking a step closer to him. "I've been your best friend since forever. If I don't believe you, who will? I won't get mad, Embry, I promise. I just need to know what happened."

Embry stared at him feet for a few seconds before looking up.

"Do you remember the Quileute legends?" Embry asked. "The ones Billy used to tell us?"

"Kind of." I replied. I was burning to ask what the hell legends had to do with it, but I was going to wait. I wanted Embry to explain this himself.

"They're true, Cherry. And I'm a part of them. I'm a shape-shifter, but… well; most of the world might consider us werewolves."

'What?"

"I'm a werewolf, Cherry."

"I don't think I heard you right."

"You did. I can turn into a wolf."

I took a step back form him, tears forming in my eyes.

'So that's it?" I demanded. "This was all a _joke?_"

"No, Cherry, I'm-" Embry tried to explain, taking a step closer to me. I flinched away from him in disgust, before taking another step back.

"You're not even sorry, you bastard! You think you can come to my house and make me look like an idiot? I believed you!" I yelled. Embry's face crumpled as though he was in pain.

"Cherry, I'm telling the truth."

"I bet this was all a dare." I snapped. The tears were flowing freely down my face now. "Who dared you, huh? Was it Paul? Think it would be funny to play some kind of a perverted trick on your stupid ex-best friend?"

"Cherry, please, don't do this, I have to-"

"Leave me alone. Get the hell out of my life Embry, and don't you dare think you can come here and say crap to me, because I won't take it."

And I ran out of my garage, straight to Quil's house, in the pouring rain. I turned back at the end of the street, to see Embry watching me from my driveway.


	12. Coffee Beanz

**Chapter 12**

Quil stared at me in shock when he opened the door and saw me.

'Oh my god, Cherry, are you crying? Are you okay? What happened?"

I just shook my head, unable to speak. Quil glanced behind him, and I saw that his house was full of people, some sort of friends or relatives. I couldn't just walk in there looking a mess.

"Get into the garden." Quil said. "Can you jump over the fence?"

I nodded, and went to the garden. I'd jumped over Quil's fence loads of times. Managing to hoist myself over I saw Quil waiting on the other side.

"It's Embry." I said, before he could ask. "He showed up at my house. A few minutes ago."

"Embry?" Quil asked. "And Jake?"

I shook my head.

"Not Jake."

"Well, what did Embry want?"

"Some crap. He thinks he can mess with me, just cause he ditched us, I'm not going to stand it, Quil! I just don't know what's happening to him, the Embry I knew would never say such shit….."

"What shit? What did he say?"

"That he's a werewolf." I said, letting out a choked laugh. "I mean, how dumb is that? He thought I was going to buy it?"

Quil was silent, staring into space.

"Quil?" I asked. "You still there?"

"Yeah, of course." Quil said. "What else did he say?"

"That the Quileute legends were true. I mean, that's so dumb. Even Billy used to admit that the legends were probably just for entertainment, there aren't shape-shifter, and cold ones out there!"

"Yeah…" Quil said absent-mindedly. "Just for entertainment…"

"So what's the emergency?" I demanded, walking into the café. Coffee Beanz was a small coffee shop/café thing right down the road from my place. And about 5 minutes ago, I'd gotten a call from Danny, the manager, telling me he needed me to do the Sunday morning shift urgently.

"Andrew's out of town." Danny told me, referring to one of the waiters. "Family emergency, I need you to fill in for him."

"So you could have just told me!" I cried. "Why make it sound like there's a fire on the phone?"

Danny just shook his head, and walked away. I'd never really understood that guy, he was a total workaholic. Even though there wasn't really much to do on a coffee shop on a sparsely populated reservation, he wanted everything to be perfect. He could probably let spiders crawl all over the place, and people would still turn up, because it was the only hang out place in La Push.

"Hey Cherry!" Hayley chirped, as she saw me slipping on the apron. "Filling in for Andrew, huh?"

"Yup." I said. I wasn't a regular worker at the café, but Danny occasionally called me if one of his staff was unable to make it.

"Cool, I haven't seen you in a while. What's up?"

"Um, not a lot." I said. Hayley was the closest thing I had to a girlfriend. Sure, she was kind of girly, but we managed to get along fine. "Just some issues with my friends."

"Really? The totally hot guys?" Hayley asked eagerly. Hayley had always swooned over the fact that Embry Quil and Jake were my best friends. Every time they came into the café, mostly just because I was on a shift, she'd insist on taking their order herself.

"Yeah." I said. "Embry and Jake kind of….. Well, let's just say that I'm not talking to them anymore. They left."

"Jake was the one you had a crush on, right?"

"Yeah. Since practically forever."

"God. It sounds awful, Cherry. I'm so sorry."

I shrugged, as an old lady entered the café. Hayley left to go take her order, while I just stood there, leaning against the counter. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about Embry's visit yesterday. I'd accepted the fact that he was gone, a long time ago. I just never thought he would do something so…. So unlike him. So mean. I heard the door chime at the front, indicating that someone was coming in. I looked up, and saw the last people that I wanted to see. Sam, Paul, Jared and Jacob had walked in. Embry was not with them.

They sat down at a booth near a corner, and I glanced around nervously. Hayley was still with the old woman, who seemed unable to make up her mind. There was no other choice. I was going to have to take their order.

"What can I get for you?" I asked softly, going up to them. They all snapped their heads up and looked at me in surprise.

"Hello Cheryl." Sam said pleasantly, giving me a small smile. Paul wasn't ready to be as nice.

"Ah, who knew? Shorty works here." Paul said.

"_What can I get you?"_ I repeated, with a little more force.

"I'm not sure about us, but you can get yourself a little compassion." Paul continued. "Embry was torn up the other day."

"I'm here to take your order, not discuss my personal life."

"In fact, I think you should go and apologize. I mean, he was your best friend after all. Telling him to get lost is no way to treat-"

"You know what I think you should do?" I snapped, leaning forward angrily. "I think you should go shove your ass up a-"

"Now, there's no need for this." Sam said, giving Paul a pointed look. "Cheryl has made her choice, and we should leave it at that. We're ready to order, Cheryl."

I scribbled down their order, and it took me two entire pages on my notepad. I asked them if there were more people coming to join, but got no response. I walked away, and stood in a corner when I was done, thinking. What had Paul meant by 'Embry was torn up'? Why would Embry be torn up? Because I'd asked him to get lost? But that made no sense, he'd been asking for it with all that bullshit he fed me.

"Um, Cherry?" a voice said. I whipped around and saw Jacob standing behind me.

"Your order's going to take a few more minutes." I said, without looking at him. I knew that if I looked into his eyes, I might not be able to look away again.

"Um, yeah, I figured. I actually wanted to talk to you."

"Surprise, surprise…." I muttered under my breath. I wanted to talk to him. I really did. Maybe he would actually give me some answers unlike Embry. "I can't. I'm on duty."

"Can't you take a break?'

"I don't think so." I said, just as I saw Hayley approaching. She smiled at me, and she came and stood near me.

"Hey, Cherry, if you wanna, you know, get some fresh air I can cover for you." She said. "We're not busy in here today, and Danny just went out, so….."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, totally."

I nodded, and followed Jacob outside, placing my notepad on the counter. We went up till the deserted parking lot, before Jacob turned to face me.

"So? What is it?" I asked.

"Look, I need a favor from you, Cherry." Jacob said. "It's important."

"Sure." I said. "As soon as you tell me what the hell is going on with you, because Embry really wasn't of much use there."

"What do you mean? What Embry told you was the truth."

"Oh god! Not you too! Please don't tell me you're going to play the same card on me; I'm sick of this, Jake! I want to know what's going on!" I cried.

"Embry _told_ you what's going on. We're werewolves, Cherry."

"Jacob, you're not werewolves! You're just a guy who fell into a trap and is now on whatever goddamn drugs Sam is feeding you guys! Look, I can help you, if you'll just tell me what's going on! We can call the police, or get you a counselor, maybe a psychiatrist, and-"

"I don't need a psychiatrist! I'm not crazy!"

"So then tell me what's going on!" I demanded.

"Embry told you what's going on! The Quileute legends are true, we're werewolves, and the cold ones exist!"

I stared at him.

"Get lost, Jake." I muttered.

"No. I need you to tell Bella what's going on." He insisted.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up! We're talking about you, why do you need to bring _Bella_ into this? Is she in on it too?"

"No, she's not! I just need you to tell her what's happened to me!"

"What _has_ happened to you?"

"I told you! I'm a werewolf, and I need you to tell Bella about it." Jake pleaded.

"This makes no sense! Why can't you feed her your crazy lies yourself?"

"Because I'm not allowed to!"

"Who's stopping you?"

"Sam's the alpha! I have to listen to him!"

"Alpha? How the hell did we jump into trigonometry, here?"

Jake looked like he was going to explode with frustration, and I took a cautious step back from him. He took a deep breath with his eyes closed. When he opened them, he spoke more calmly.

"Look. This is all I can tell you. I'm not allowed to tell Bella what I am. But you can tell her, so I need you to. I hate keeping her in the dark like this."

"Why aren't you allowed to tell Bella anything?"

"Because it's a secret. We can't tell outsiders."

"But Embry told me. Aren't I an outsider?"

"That's different. You're Embry's imprint."

"What the hell is an imprint? Some kind of imaginary werewolf thing?"

'Cherry, I can't talk about this. If the guys knew I was saying this stuff to you, I'd be dead."

"Whoa, whoa, wait!" I cried. "Is that what Sam's doing to you? Blackmail?"

"No! You don't understand, he's a good guy! Look, Cherry, just tell Bella, please."

I stared at him for a few seconds. This was a load of bullshit.

"No.' I said.

"What?"

"No. I'm not going to say a word to that bitch until you tell me the truth, Jacob."

"Cherry, this is insane."

"No! You know what's insane? You are! You need help, Jacob!"

"Fine!" Jacob yelled. "Don't help me! I'll figure out a way to tell Bella myself. Thanks for the help!"

"You're welcome!" I screamed back at him, as he walked away. Then I sat down on the sidewalk and cried.


	13. He Shows Her

**Chapter 13**

"Are you sure you feel okay?" I asked Quil, for the 15th time that day. Normally, he might have snapped at me, but he didn't seem himself, somehow. He just nodded weakly.

"I'm fine, Cherry." He said. "Just a little tired. I'll be okay in a while."

"Are you sure? Do you want to go to the nurse? Do you feel weird; is any of Sam's gang staring at you, or anything like that?"

"What? No, why would you think that? Jeez, Cherry, lay off me." Quil said, looking a bit annoyed. I forced myself to calm down.

"Sorry. It's just that Embry acted the same way before he…. _Changed _and I don't wanna lose you too. If you're sure you feel okay, then I won't say anything." I apologized quickly.

Quil nodded, and we ate in silence at the lunch table. I pulled out my Chemistry notes, and started to revise for a test I had next period. When I glanced up, I saw that Quil was glaring behind me.

"What are you staring at?" I asked.

"He stares at you, you know that?" Quil asked. I turned around, and saw that Jake, Embry, Paul and Jared were at the table behind us. There was a new addition to their table today that I hadn't seen before – Kim Sheldon.

"Who's staring?" I asked. They were all turned away from me.

"Embry." Quil muttered. "He stares at you. It's just…weird. I don't get it. Why tell you that he's a werewolf? Why not me?"

"I don't know." I muttered. "Maybe he figured that I'd be easier to fool? Look, Quil, let's not talk about this okay?"

"Why not?" Quil asked.

"I don't know! Maybe cause I'm starting to doubt my own sanity? I don't know what the hell is going on anymore." I snapped. "Maybe I'm hallucinating all of it, and neither Embry nor Jake ever spoke to me."

Quil shook his head.

"He's still staring at you," was all Quil said. I turned around to find that Embry was actually staring in my direction. I shot him the most furious glare I could muster, and then snapped my Chemistry book shut.

"I'm going to class." I said. "See you later."

By the time I got out of last period, I couldn't find Quil anywhere. He'd usually wait for me by his locker, but he was nowhere to be found. I wandered out to the parking lot, wondering if I'd see him by his car, but he wasn't there either. Instead, I found Paul, Jared, Jacob and Embry leaning against their car. As soon as they spotted me, Embry started to walk over. I tried to walk away, but he was too fast, and caught my arm.

"Cherry. Hey." He said.

"Let go of me." I snapped, and he released his grip on my arm.

"Sorry." He said. "Look, I- I know you don't believe me."

"Damn right, I don't." I replied. "I think we talked about this already, so if you don't mind, I'm going to leave so that I can catch the bus before it leaves since my ride blew me off."

"Quil didn't blow you off." Embry said. "He had to leave."

I glared at him.

"Look, Embry, I really don't know why you're here. " I said.

"I want to prove it to you."

"Prove what to me?"

"That I'm a werewolf." Embry said sincerely.

"Embry this is dumb." I snapped. "You're not a werewolf, okay? And there's no way that you can possible prove that you are, you're just embarrassing yourself. I'm done talking about this."

Embry grabbed my hand before I could leave again. His grip was burning hot.

"I want to prove it to you." He said.

I stared at him for a few seconds, and he looked straight into my eyes.

"Okay." I said, giving in. "Prove it."

Embry smiled. And somehow, I couldn't help but smile back. It had been so long since I'd seen him smile genuinely, and I really missed it. He continued to hold my hand, and started to lead me out of the parking lot.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Well, you can't expect me to phase in front of the entire school parking lot, can you? We're going in the forest.'

I stiffened. The forest?

'You'll be safe." Embry continued. "I'll protect you."

I nodded, and followed him into the forest. All the while thinking that I was making a huge mistake.

"How much further in?" I whined. "My legs are hurting!"

"I offered to carry you, Cherry." Embry said. "You were the one who refused. Offer's still up, if you want…."

"No." I snapped. "I'm fine."

Embry shrugged, and continued on, while I trudged up after him. He wasn't even out of breath. When did Embry become this fit?

"Okay, fine, let's stop." Embry said as soon as we came to a small clearing-type thing. "Nobody should see us this far in."

"Thank God!" I cried. "Honestly, I walked all this way, now I swear; I better see something impressive, Embry."

Embry nodded, and suddenly started to take his shirt off. It took me a few seconds to realize what he was doing.

"Embry! What the hell?" I cried. "What are you trying to do?"

"Um, sorry." Embry said. "I'll just…. Wait here, okay? Don't go anywhere." he said, disappearing behind a clump of bushes.

"Wait, where are you going?" I yelled after him, rooted to the spot. "You better not be leaving me here, Embry, I'm going to murder you!"

I got no response, and instead stayed where I was, hoping that Embry would come back. I heard a rustle in the bushes to my right, and jumped a little. That was when I saw it.

A huge wolf had stepped out of the bushes.

"OH MY GOD!" I screamed, closing my eyes. "Embry! Embry, where the hell are you?" I started backing away from the _thing_ trying not to make any sudden movements or scare it. "Embry!" I called again. There was no response, and I opened my eyes, glancing cautiously at the wolf.

"Embry?" I called again, a little more weakly this time. The wolf whined, and I looked at it.

_Oh my freaking god, it had his eyes._

I stumbled back, and tripped over a tree root. Falling on my butt, I let out an ear-splitting scream. The wolf quickly ran back into the bushes out of sight, and before I knew it, a hand placed itself over my mouth.

"Sssh!" Embry cried. I let my scream drop, and turned to face him.

"What the _hell_ was that?" I yelled. My voice was high-pitched, on the brink of hysteria.

"Cherry, you need to relax."

_"_Relax?_ Relax?" _I cried. "You just turned into an animal, and you want me to _relax?"_

Embry didn't respond, just lowered his head in what looked like shame.

"I knew you'd take it this way." He muttered. "I'm a monster, Cherry, but I can't help it."

I looked at him, not sure how to respond. I'd almost had a heart attack when I saw the wolf, but looking at him now, this was… this was just Embry. My childhood friend, the one who'd always made me laugh, the one who comforted me when I was hurt. Except he'd just turned into a wolf.

"I need to go home." I said. "Take me home."

"But, Cherry, we need to talk about this." Embry said.

"Not now." I said. "Take me home."

He nodded.

"Okay." He said. "But you can't tell anyone."

"Dammit, Embry, just take me home."

He nodded, and we started to walk out of the forest, silently.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

I had nightmares. I woke up sweating in the middle of the night at least thrice, with a big bloodthirsty wolf approaching me in my mind, its canines dripping with blood. I almost breathed a sigh of relief when 7 am came, and I could get out of bed.

"Honey, are you okay?" Mom asked, once I'd spilt my juice for the second time at breakfast. "What's wrong, why are you so jumpy?"

"I'm fine." I said, shaking my head. "Just couldn't sleep too well."

Dad put his newspaper down and glanced at me.

"Do you have a fever?" he asked. "I can drive you down to the hospital, if you want me to."

"No, I don't need to go to the hospital." I said, firmly. "I'm fine. I have an important test today, that's all. I'll be okay."

"Okay." Dad said, with a shrug. I took a sip of my juice and put it down.

"Dad, what do you know about the Quileute legends?" I asked.

"Quileute legends?" he asked sounding surprised. "Why would you be interested in those, Cherry?"

"I… was going to do a project on them." I said, quickly. "For school."

"Really? Well, I'm not really the right person. Why don't you go ask Billy? He's always had a sort of fascination with them." Dad said. "Sometimes I even think he believes that they're real."

"And you don't?" I asked.

"I don't what?"

"Believe that they're real."

"Of course not.' Dad said, looking at me as though the idea was absurd. Before yesterday, I might have thought it was too. "Those stories were just created for entertainment, dear. Nobody actually believes them."

"Right." I said. "Well, I should go. I'm going to be late."

"Need a ride?" Dad asked.

"Umm…" I glanced out of the window, where I saw Embry's car was parked. "Nope. Embry's here, I'll go with him."

"So things are okay with you and the boys now?" Mom asked.

"Kind of." I said, before grabbing my bag and leaving the house. I saw Jake in the front passenger seat of the car, and slid into the back.

"Hey guys." I said.

'Hey." Jake said. "Nice to have you back, Cherry."

"Yeah, about that…" I said. "You guys have a lot of explaining to do."

"We'll talk about that later." Embry said, starting the car up. "You're okay, right Cherry?"

"Yeah, of course. Why?" I asked.

"You don't look too great." Embry said. "You look tired."

"I… had a few nightmares." I said. "No biggie."

Embry turned around in the driver's seat to look at me.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I hate to think that you couldn't sleep because of…" He trailed off.

"It'll take some time getting used to. But… I'll try to refrain from screaming like yesterday whenever I see you." I joked weakly.

"You screamed?" Jake asked looking amused. "Well, that's better than Kim. She fainted, from what I heard."

"Kim." I said. "Jared's girlfriend, right?"

"His imprint.' Jake said.

"What's an imprint?" I asked while Embry shot Jake a glare, and Jake covered his mouth as though he'd said something he shouldn't have. "What?" I demanded. "Are you guys still keeping something from me?"

"Of course not." Embry said. "Why don't you come to the beach later today? We can explain everything, then, and hang out. Like old times."

"Like old times." I repeated. "Wait… what about Quil? Oh my god, he's going to be so shocked when he sees me come to school with you guys! He'll probably think I ditched him for you…"

"You don't need to worry about Quil." Jake said. "He won't be at school today."

"What? Why?" I asked, just as Embry pulled into the school parking lot.

"Well, he's… one of us now."

It felt amazing to have Embry and Jake back. I joked around and laughed with Jake just like I used to, and it felt like the old times. Embry was acting a little more… awkward. He was treating me as though I was really fragile. Somehow, he was being careful, as though I was going to jump up any moment and leave them. I spent as much time with them as I could at school, and once school let out, we walked to the beach and the guys explained everything about being a werewolf.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, the Cullens are VAMPIRES?" I demanded, when I'd asked about the so-called 'cold ones'. "But Bella went out with a Cullen! Did he like drink her blood or whatever?"

"Bella knew Cullen was a vampire." Jacob said.

"What? And she still went out with him? Is she nuts?" I asked.

"Well, he's gone now." Jacob said. "And he won't be coming back."

"Yeah, so you have Bella all to yourself." Embry teased. He instantly shut up when he saw the hurt expression on my face. Jacob was a little more oblivious.

"Yeah… I haven't spoken to her in a while you guys." Jake said sadly. "She's obviously mad at me- I mean; I haven't returned her calls or anything."

"I hope you're not planning on telling her anything, man." Embry said seriously. "You know Sam would murder you."

"Why?" I asked. "Is it so important that it's kept a secret?"

"Obviously, Cherry. People would freak out." Embry said. "Sam's forbidden us to tell anyone outside the pack."

"But that doesn't make sense. You told me, so why can't Jacob tell Bella?"

"Um…" Embry stopped short, looking stuck for words. I glanced at Jake, but he didn't look like he knew what to say either.

"Well?" I asked.

"It's different with you." Embry said. "I mean, you're Quileute. Bella's an outsider."

"What does that mean?" I demanded. "Am I going to turn into one of you guys eventually? Is that even possible?"

"No." He said. "It's not. You're not completely Quileute, and besides, there's only one case of a girl turning into a werewolf."

"And who's that?" I asked.

"Leah Clearwater." He said "But that's not important."

"Wait, Leah's a werewolf?" I asked. I'd known Leah Clearwater as a child, because her mother and mine were friends. Well, that was before she turned into a total bitch.

"Yeah." Embry said with a shrug. "Came as a surprise to everyone, but Sam was pretty sure that this was a one-time thing. We're probably not going to have any more female werewolves."

"Okay." I said, with a smile. There was a small pause, as a howl came from the woods. "Was that one of you?" I asked.

"Jared." Jake said. "I think it's my turn to patrol. I'll catch you guys later."

"Sure." Embry said, and I watched Jake run off towards the trees. Something felt good.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Two weeks later, and life was going great. Jake, Embry and Quil were still my best friends, and life felt like it had during the old days. Though it wasn't exactly the same. We spent a lot more time with Sam, Paul and Jared. Not that I had a huge problem with that. Jared was pretty nice, and his girlfriends Kim turned out to be kind of sweet too. A little too girly, maybe, but still nice. Sam was a cool guy too, and so was his wife Emily. She spent a load of time cooking in the kitchen, and she was as awesome a baker as I was. We exchanged recipes and stuff all the time. Paul was the only irritating one. He still called me Shorty, but I was used to it now, and it was in a more friendly kind of way.

"Hey Cherry! Could you pass me a hot dog?" Jared called, and I nodded. We were chilling out in Jacob's backyard, and there was a lot of food. Emily had made the hotdogs, while I brought over the muffins. It was a lot of work.

"Isn't that your 5th one?" I asked him, handing it over.

"Come on, Cherry. You should know us by now." Embry said, elbowing me playfully. "We have huge appetites."

"Yeah, well you were always a pig, Embry." I retorted.

"Hey!"

Just then, Paul came racing into the backyard at top speed, looking terrified. I've got to say, it was quite a shock. You know, Paul looking terrified.

"Whoa, man, what's up?" Jared called out, but Paul didn't have time to respond. That's because Jacob ran out after him, looking damn pissed off. He was shaking angrily, and Embry jumped out of his seat to hold him back.

"Jacob! What the hell, man?" he demanded. Jacob didn't respond, just continued shaking, while Sam got up and placed himself in between the terrified looking Paul and the furious Jake.

"Emily. Take Kim and Cherry back indoors." He said, in a voice that made it very clear why he was the alpha. "Now."

Emily got up quickly, and I and Kim followed her back into Jacob's house. We were almost inside when I heard Jacob scream.

"You bastard, you imprinted on my sister!"

Emily ushered me and Kim into the house, as we heard the ripping of clothes. I closed my eyes so that I wouldn't have to look. I could handle Jake, Embry and Quil as humans, but I was still jittery around them if they transformed. I mean, if a huge wolf is standing in front of you, your instinct says to run. Even, you know, if the wolf happens to be your best friend.

"What happened back there?" I asked Emily, once we were safely inside the house. Emily had closed the door behind her, and Kim had a smile on her face. "Why are you smiling?"

"Well, it's kind of funny, isn't it? Paul imprinting? I mean, with his horrible temper, I pity the person that has to be with him."

"What? Let's slow down, what's imprinting? I've heard that word before."

Kim's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Oh my god! I totally forgot! You don't know…." She cried.

"I don't know what?" I demanded.

"It's nothing Cherry." Emily assured me. "You'll find out when you're ready."

I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Right. And that just did not make me all the more curious about it."

"I know you're confused. But it's not up to us to tell you."

I glared at her. What the hell was going on? Why couldn't I find out what this stupid imprint thing meant? And why was it so funny that it had happened to Paul? And why was Jake pissed off? It had something to do with Rachel, because Jake mentioned his sister…. But Paul and Rachel have never even met!

"I'm going to find out." I told them.

"I'm sure you will."

It was another 10 minutes before Sam deemed it safe for us girls to come back out. And when we saw everyone sitting in the backyard, Paul just looked pissed off, and Jake exhausted, but mad at the same time.

"What was that?" I asked Embry. "Why are they pissed off at each other?"

"Long story." Embry said simply.

"So? We've got time."

"Yeah, I… let's talk about it later, okay?" Embry said.

I stood up, mad.

"No, we are not going to talk about this later; we are going to talk about this right now!" I cried. "What the hell is an imprint or whatever, and why is everyone so determined to keep it from me?"

So my voice had risen a little more than I'd wanted it to, and now everyone was staring.

"Cherry, please. Let's deal with this later." Embry pleaded.

"Why? Why can't you tell me now? I thought we weren't keeping any more secrets from each other! What is so important that you can't tell me, but everyone else knows?"

"Cherry, please…" Embry muttered. "Calm down."

"No." I said. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Not now… you're not ready to know about it." He muttered, looking somewhat… ashamed. "Trust, me, you don't want to know about it yet."

I glared at him, and stood up, angry.

"Fine." I said. "I'm out of here."

I stood up and walked out, fuming. I thought everything had gone back to normal! I thought they were telling me everything, so why does he have to keep something else from me? Does he think I can't handle it? I mean, they're werewolves, for god's sake, how much worse can it get?

I was halfway down Jacob's street when I bumped into someone.

"Bella?" I cried, in surprise. "WH-what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk to Jacob." She said, steadying herself after the impact with me. "I'm tired of him ignoring my calls, and Billy telling me that he's sick. I'm not taking it anymore. I saw him, with those bastards up on the cliff. Do you know what they were doing, Cheryl?"

I didn't respond. I knew perfectly well that they were cliff-diving. I suppose to Bella it might have looked suicidal. Damn, to any human being it _was_ suicidal. The one time Jacob had suggested that I give it a try, Embry and Quil had nearly ripped his head off. Not that I was complaining. I'm not sure I want to die so soon.

"Bella, I think you should calm down." I said.

"Calm down? What the hell do you mean? He was _diving_ off a cliff!" she said, breathing hard. She stared at me for a few seconds. "Oh, who am I kidding? You're one of them now, aren't you? You're not going to listen to me." She snapped, making an attempt to push past me.

"Bella, wait, no, you can't go there." I cried. "The whole pa- I mean, the whole gang is there. Sam and everyone. What are you going to do?"

"Good." Bella said. "Maybe they can tell me what's going on. Since Jake won't explain, and neither will you."

And she ran past me. The little bitch just ran. And I ran after her. I mean, what was she going to do? It's not like Jake could say anything in front of the whole pack! She was the one that was suicidal.

"Bella! Don't do this!" I yelled after her, as she went into Jake's backyard. She didn't listen. She walked straight into the middle of all of them. And she slapped Paul. I mean, Paul. Of all people. I really admire this girl's guts. I don't think I could have slapped Paul. Then again, I know that he's a werewolf with anger issues.

There was a huge flurry as Paul growled at her, and phased, into a huge wolf. Bella stood there, petrified, until Quil and Embry both shoved her out of the way in time. Paul had been about to lunge at her. Emily and Kim were the fastest to react. They grabbed hold of Bella and ran over to the house, where I was standing.

Half an hour later, and everyone was sitting in Sam and Emily's living room. Bella had calmed down, and all the guys had managed to keep Paul under control. Jared was with him now, in the woods. The rest of the pack was here.

Bella and Jacob were standing near the doorway, talking in low voices and making lovey-dovey eyes at each other. I could feel a clenching feeling in my gut, and stood up before I could do something stupid.

"I'm going to see if Emily needs any help in the kitchen." I announced, to anyone who was bothering to listen, and marched away.

"Oh, hey Cherry." Emily said, with a tired smile, as I entered the kitchen. "Eventful day, huh?"

"Yeah." I said. "You look tired. Do you need some help?"

"No, I… I'm fine, really." Emily assured me, looking up from the cake batter she was mixing.

"You should go lie down." I said, taking the bowl from her. "I'll finish the cakes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I said. "It's not like I was doing anything useful sitting in the living room anyway."

"Thanks." She said, leaving the room.

I finished the batter, and was just popping the cakes into the oven, when someone entered the kitchen.

"Hey. You okay?" Embry asked me softly, leaning against the counter.

"Uh, yeah." I said, with a shrug. I closed the oven door and spun the timer. "I'm good."

"So… you're not mad, then?"

"At you?" I asked. "I… don't know. I just wish you would tell me, Embry."

"I know." Embry said. "I know, I want to. I just need some time, Cherry. I'll tell you, I promise. How could I keep a secret from you?"

I smiled at him, and didn't say anything.

"Seriously, though." He said, again. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why?"

Embry looked a little embarrassed.

"It's just… we can all see what's going on out there. With Bella and Jake." He said.

"Embry, I…" I wanted to tell him that I didn't care. But I couldn't say that, because there was a part of me that did care about it.

"You can say it, Cherry." Embry said. "You don't have to hide it from me. I've known about it since practically middle school. And… I'm here for you."

"Thanks." I said. "It's just… I don't know. I just feel left out, I guess."

"I know how you feel. I've felt it myself."

I rolled my eyes.

"No you haven't." I said. "You're _Embry_. You're not the ladies man that Jake's always been. And you're not the sensitive one like Quil. You're strong. You don't let little things like that affect you."

"I wish that was true." He said sadly.

"Embry, are _you_ okay?" I asked, taking a step closer to him. He looked so sad and hurt somehow.

"I'm fine." He said. "There are just a lot of things that I wish I could say out loud. But… it would ruin everything. Just… don't worry about me, okay?"

I nodded, putting my arms around him and giving him a hug, It felt nice when he hugged me back, his warm body was just so comforting.

"Thanks." He said when I let go. "I needed that."

I smiled back at him. Jacob or no Jacob, I had Embry.


	16. Imprinting and the Truth

**Chapter 16**

The next couple of days went seriously downhill. Bella was _everywhere_ Jake was, and it was starting to irritate me. The worst part was that people had welcomed her pretty simply into the pack. I don't know how to say it but I guess in a way I was jealous. Jealous that she'd gone out with a _vampire_ but she was welcomed just as well as I was. Embry was the only one that understood. He was the one who listened to me when I talked to him about it all, and he cared. He made me feel better.

"Hey." Embry said, sitting down beside me. It was just another day hanging out, and this time, we were in Sam and Emily's back garden.

"Hey." I said, giving him a smile. That was the worst thing about the past few days. Embry was starting to look really torn up. He seemed upset whenever I saw him, and he'd stopped joking around with me the way he used to. "What's up?"

"Um, not much. Have you seen Quil yet?" he asked.

"No. Where is he?"

"Come with me." He said, grabbing my hand and carefully pulling me up. I followed him into the living room, where I saw Quil. With a toddler in his lap.

"Hey guys!" Quil said, looking up at us cheerfully. The toddler was giving him a toothy grin as she pulled at his hair. It looked like she was yanking pretty hard, but Quil didn't seem to mind.

"Um… who's this?" I asked, in surprise. I turned to look at Embry, but he was just smiling to himself, as though he'd just remembered something funny.

"This is Claire. She's Emily's niece." Quil said cheerfully. "Hey Claire! This is Cherry, she's my friend. Do you want to say hi?"

Claire stopped pulling at his hair, and turned to look at me. She gave me a quick glance and then turned back to Quil.

"But Teddy, she's not a cherry. She's a girl!" Claire lisped, giggling.

"She calls you _Teddy_?" I demanded, unable to stop a laugh from bubbling through my mouth.

"Mmhm." Embry said, from beside me. He was still smiling widely."She thinks Quil's cuddly, like a teddy bear."

"But- but _Teddy_?" I burst out, laughing hard. "Quil, since when do you like kids?"

Quil shrugged defensively.

"She's cute." He said, simply. "And she likes me. She refused to go to anyone else."

"Right." I said. "Because you're so lovable, _Teddy_."

"The guys have given me hell about it already." Quil said, looking annoyed. "I mean, is it my fault that I imprinted on a-"

He stopped abruptly, as the expression on my face changed. There it was again. That word. Imprinting. The one which nobody would tell me what it meant.

"I'm sorry." Quil said quickly. I forgot that…"

"It's okay." I said, feeling a little angry, for some reason. "I'm… just going to get some fresh air."

"Cherry, wait." Embry said, following me as I walked out of the house. I started making my way across the garden. "Cherry!"

"What?" I asked, not stopping. "What do you want?'

"I want to talk to you." He said, as we continued walking. I was going as fast as I could without breaking into a run, but he was easily keeping pace with me. "What do you want me to say? Embry, I'm sick of those awkward silences whenever someone says the word by accident and then looks at me like they've committed a crime!"

"Cherry, just stop." Embry pleaded, as I walked further. We were at the edge of the forest now that continued from the back of Sam and Emily's garden.

"Why? So you can give me another list of reasons why you can't tell me what the goddamn word means?" I demanded.

"Cherry, why can't you just believe that I'm waiting for the right time to tell you?"

"Because you promised you would tell me, and I'm sick of waiting!"

There was a silence, and Embry stopped walking. I did too, and stood with my back against a tree. He looked at me, his eyes full of pain.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Don't be. I don't even care anymore." I snapped. "I'm sick of you doing this, Embry!"

"Doing what?" Embry demanded, looking furious. "Always being there for you? Doing my best to make sure you never get hurt, listening to you even when you're talking about some shit that I don't want to hear about, because it just hurts me?"

"What?" I asked.

He took a few steps closer to me, and I pressed my back against the tree harder, feeling a little scared.

"Do you know what it's like to have to listen to you? When you're going on about… I do so much, okay? You don't even know that pain that I'm going through."

"I would if you'd just tell me!" I cried. "I've noticed you looking torn up, okay Embry? And what am I supposed to do about it, if _you_ won't even tell me what's wrong?"

"I can't. It would ruin everything."

"What do you mean? Embry I tell you everything. I've been completely honest with you about everything with Jake, and-"

"_Don't say his name."_ Embry growled. I stepped further back into the tree in shock.

"What?"

"Don't say that bastard's name. It's his entire fault. This wasn't supposed to happen! You weren't supposed to continue liking him!"

"What? You're not making sense, Embry! Why would you think that I'd stop liking him?"

"Because I _imprinted_ on you."

"Oh, wow, Embry! Everything's so clear now!" I yelled. "One tiny problem! You won't tell me what the damn hell that _means!"_

There was silence. I looked up at him and realized that he was standing way closer to me than he'd started off. I was stuck between him and the tree, his face barely a foot away from mine. And he started getting closer. His head dipped down, and I could almost feel his breath on my face, centimeters away from my lips….

And then it was gone. I stared in shock as he pulled away at an inhuman speed, and was now standing a few yards away, near another tree.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded, walking over to him.

"I don't know.' He whispered. "I lost control, I… I can't lose control."

"Lose control? Embry, you were about to kiss me! Why would you do that?"

"Because I imprinted on you."

"What does that _mean?" _

"It means I'm in love with you, okay?"

I stared at him.

"What?"

"It means you're my soul mate. It means that I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, and that you're everything to me. It means that I have to sit there and listen to you talk about Jacob, while it tears me up inside, because I _care_."

"Embry, I-"

"No. You asked me what it means, and I'm telling you." He snapped. "Imprinting means that I can never do anything to hurt you or upset you. It means that you come before anyone else, even before myself."

I stared at him. I was getting a horrible clenching feeling in my gut.

"Happy now?" he demanded. "I bet you're regretting the fact that you asked, aren't you? You don't want to be my soul mate. You want to be with Jacob. Well, here's the truth, Cherry. He's never going to care, okay? He's never going to notice, because you weren't meant for him. You were meant for me. And when you realize that, I'll be right here, waiting."

And he disappeared.

Oh my god.


	17. Claire's B'day!

**Chapter 17**

I don't know what just happened. My brain started freezing over as I walked home. I somehow expected Embry to come back, and tell me that it was all a lie or a joke. But I don't know if I wanted him to. I didn't know what to do. All those times that I'd sat there and vented to Embry about Jake…. I'd been doing the same thing to him that Jake had been doing to me. I'd been hurting him. My best friend. My… my _soul mate_. I'd just entered my house when my cell phone rang. I saw Quil on the caller ID and answered.

"Hello?" I said.

"Cherry! Damn, are you okay?" he asked, sounding worried.

"Yeah, I… I think I'm fine." I said softly.

"Are you sure? Did something happen? Cause Embry came back here, and he's beating himself up, literally. He wouldn't tell me anything, but he asked me to check up on you. For some reason, he thinks you won't talk to him."

"Yeah, I… I'm not sure I could handle talking to him again."

"What happened? Did he tell you? About the whole imprinting thing?"

"Yeah."

"Oh my god. Cherry, you have to-"

"I don't want to talk about it." I said, with a sigh. "Honestly, Quil. I just need some space, okay?"

"Okay, I… what should I tell Embry? He's feeling horrible Cherry, you haven't seen the way he's so furious at himself."

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes.

"Tell him I said thank you. For always being there." I said softly.

"Okay, but are you still coming to dinner at Emily and Sam's tomorrow, because it's Claire's birthday, and-

"I'll talk to you later, Quil." I said, hanging up.

- - -x -x –x x-x-x

Kim came over to my house, surprisingly, the next day. Apparently, the news about what had happened between me and Embry had spread to the whole pack. I was a little surprised at first, but Kim was really nice. I guess I wasn't used to having a girlfriend to talk to.

"You're coming to the dinner tonight. That's final." Kim said. "I'm not letting you out of it."

"Why?" I whined.

"Because it's Claire's birthday. She would want you to be there."

"She thinks I'm a fruit."

"No, she doesn't."

"But… Kim, come on." I argued. "Things are just going to be totally awkward. What will I even say to Embry?"

"What do you think you should say?" Kim asked.

"I don't know."

"Do you still like Jake?"

"I… I don't know. It's just that I never even considered Embry as more than a friend. But he's always been there for me, and… well, he cares about me more than anyone else does. I knew that even before he told me he imprinted on me."

"But you still don't love him."

"I guess… I mean… I don't know. I feel like I've screwed things up between us."

"You haven't." Kim assured me. "You can never screw things up beyond repair, not with Embry. You're his imprint. He loves you."

"Yeah… not cause he wants to, but because he has to." I said sadly.

"That's stupid. You shouldn't assume stuff like that. He might have had feelings for you even before he imprinted on you."

"You didn't hear him, Kim." I said. "You didn't see how pissed off he was."

"Of course he was pissed off! He's a werewolf. Temper problems are an added package. He can't help losing his temper, Cherry."

"But, I… I just think things might get worse."

"Trust me. They won't."

I don't know what was going through my mind when I agreed. I don't know what was going through my mind when I let Kim put me in a _dress_ because she insisted that it was formal occasion, and all the guys were going to be dressed up too. I mean, it's a three year olds birthday, for god's sake! Why will she care whether or not I'm in a dress?

I was regretting every single moment until we reached Emily and Sam's front door.

"So you ready?" Kim asked.

"I guess so." I replied, with a sigh.

We walked in, into a small living room which was clearly not big enough for its large number of inhabitants. It was crowded and noisy, and I couldn't see Embry anywhere.

And that's when it struck me.

What if he wasn't here? What if he was so pissed off that he heard I was coming and decided that he didn't want to see me? What if he'd unimprinted me? Was that even possible?

"He's there." Kim said, from beside me. She was looking at the corner of the room, where a couple of members of the pack were sitting. Sure enough, Embry was right there, in between Jake and Paul. They were all talking and laughing loudly, while he just gazed at the floor looking upset. The guys were all wearing formal shirts, as Kim had promised. Embry was in a light blue short-sleeved shirt, with a tie. I'd never seen him in a tie. He looked amazing.

"So, I'm going to go talk to Jared." Kim said. "Do you want to come?"

"I… no." I said, with a sigh. "You go ahead."

"Okay." Kim said, and she left, going in the direction of the guys. I turned around, when I felt someone tug the skirt of my dress. I looked down and saw Claire.

"Hi Cherry!" she said cheerfully, smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back, and kneeled down to her level.

"Hi Claire! Happy Birthday!" I said, with a smile. "I love your dress, you look really pretty!"

She looked down at her pink princess frock and then smiled at me, looking pleased.

"Thank you!" she said. "Guess what Teddy got me for my birthday?"

"What did he get you?"

"A huge doll!" she said, stretching her arms out as far as they would go, to emphasize the 'huge'ness of the doll.

"Really? That's great." I said. Before I could say anything else, though, Quil came running up, looking freaked out.

"Claire! Oh my god, there you are! Don't ever disappear like that again, you scared me!" he said, sweeping Claire up into his arms. I smiled at the adorable scene. "Cherry?" Quil asked, looking at me in surprise. "I didn't expect you to come here."

"Well, Kim convinced me." I explained.

"Yeah? You look nice. Never seen you in a dress." Quil said.

"Thanks. Though I guess no one can beat the birthday girl." I said, gesturing towards Claire.

He smiled down at her fondly.

"Yeah. She's my imprint." He said.

I nearly choked.

"What? But she's 3!"

"Yeah, you're not the only one who was surprised." Quil said matter-of-factly. "The guys have been giving me hell about it, but it's cool. I'll just have to wait till she's older."

"Teddy! Teddy! I want some cake!" Claire squealed, squirming in his arms. He set her down carefully, still smiling at her.

"Okay. You go ahead. I'm going to talk to Cherry for a bit, all right?"

Claire nodded absent-mindedly as she headed for the food.

"So… how are you doing?" Quil asked. It might have seemed like a casual question, but I knew what it meant.

"I don't know." I said. "I feel really confused. I just… I somehow think it was a bad idea for me to come here tonight. I don't think I'm ready to say anything to him yet."

"But… I mean, you do feel the same way about him, right?" Quil asked.

I sighed, glancing in the direction of Embry and the other guys. Embry was looking at me, but he turned away as soon as my eyes met his.

"I guess. I don't know." I replied.

There was a few seconds of silence.

"Hey Quil. Does… this imprinting thing. Does it have to work both ways?"

"I don't know, Cherry. It has for everybody. Kim liked Jared even before he turned into a wolf, and Emily fell in love with Sam right away too. Even Rachel and Paul are together already."

"And the… wolf doesn't have a choice right? He just _has_ to fall in love with the girl? Even if he never thought of her that way before?"

Quil narrowed his eyes at me.

"I know where this is going." He said. "You think Embry doesn't want to be in love with you. Look, Cherry, he's probably going to kill me, but he had feelings for you even before he turned."

"What?"

"Look, I shouldn't be telling you all of this. You should be discussing it with Embry. Why don't you just go up to him?"

"Because I'm a coward who doesn't have the guts." I admitted.

"He's hurting a lot, Cherry. You guys should talk."

"You know what? Not tonight, Quil. Let me… at least let me figure out what I'm going to say before I go up to him."

"Okay. Whatever. I'm going to go get some cake. You want to come?"

"Sure." I said. Quil started to make his way through the crowd, and I followed him, until I felt a hot hand grab my wrist. The first thought that came to my mind was Embry, and I whirled around.

And here's the worst part. When I saw Jake's face behind me instead of Embry's, I felt a tinge of disappointment. Just a tiny little tinge. But it was there, and I knew what it meant. I wanted to talk to Embry. And I wanted to see him badly.

"Hey Jake." I said.

"Cherry. Can we talk?" Jake asked.

I nodded silently, and we moved to a slightly emptier corner of the room.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"Listen, I… heard about everything. I mean, well, I didn't exactly _hear_ about it, nobody told me, but Quil's just really bad at hiding his thoughts and… you get me, right?"

"Yeah, I get you.' I said.

"Well, I just… I'm not sure what to say. I feel like this is all my fault." He said.

"It's not, Jake. If this is anybody's fault, it's mine." I said. "I was the one who was stupid enough to not see what was right in front of my eyes."

"Yeah, well, if it helps, I didn't notice what was in front of my eyes either." He admitted.

"You know what, Jake? Just forget about it. Honestly. You're my best friend, and you always will be. Let's leave it at that." I said.

Jake looked relieved.

"Wow." He said. "Cool that sounds great. So, um, what's going on with you and Embry? You guys spoke to each other yet?"

"No." I said.

"You should."

"Yeah, you're not the first one to tell me that."

"Just goes to show that it's the right thing to do." He said. "Anyway, I'll catch you later. I'm starving, and I'm going to get something to eat."

"Sure." I said.

I spent the rest of the evening with Quil and Claire. I didn't feel like sitting with the guys, not when Embry was with them, and Kim was constantly busy with Jared. At least with Claire and Quil, I didn't feel like a third wheel.

"-and so I told her she wasn't getting any more from me, and she got mad and said that she wasn't going to be my friend anymore." Claire said, sounding upset.

"Well, Claire, maybe you shouldn't have been so rude." Quil said softly. "Why don't you go apologize to her, and you guys can be friends again?"

Okay. So maybe listening to who stole the cookies from whose lunchbox at kindergarten wasn't the best way to spend my evening. But it was better than nothing.

"Um, Cherry?" a voice said from behind me. My heart skipped a beat as I recognized it.

"E-embry! Um, hi." I blurted out nervously.

"Can we talk?" he asked softly. His eyes were looking straight into mine, and my heartbeat was rapidly increasing. "Maybe outside?"

I nodded before I knew what I was doing.

"Yeah, I'll… I'll be there in a second." I said. Embry nodded, and walked out of the front door, while I turned to find Quil staring at me. "Oh my god. What am I going to do?"

"You're going to talk to him." Quil said, giving me a small push. "Now go."

I stood up, and headed out of the door.  
Oh crap.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

I was almost shaking when I stepped out onto the front porch, closing the door behind me. It was slightly darker out here – only the light from the windows was seeping out, and it was quiet. Really quiet.

I saw him leaning against the railing, arms crossed over his chest. His head was facing the floor, but he snapped it up as soon as he saw me.

"Hey." He said, pushing himself off the railing, and taking a few steps closer to me.

"Hi." I said back. My voice was a tiny squeak, and I'm sure any normal person might not have heard me. But he was a werewolf.

"You… look really nice." He said. "I've never seen you in a dress before."

I felt my heart beat slow down a little.

"Um thanks. Kim forced me into it." I said, my voice shaking.

"Yeah, I figured. You wouldn't get into a dress willingly."

Commence the awkward silence. There was a few seconds when I was debating with myself whether or not I should speak, but Embry beat me to it.

"I'm sorry." He said. And the worst part was, he sounded so genuine. I could hear in those two words just how hurt he was, and how much he regretted. "All those things I said yesterday… I wish I could take it back, Cherry. I didn't mean most of it."

"I think you did, Embry." I replied. Not rudely. At least, I hope it didn't sound rude. That was the last thing I needed right now. "I think you meant most of it, but I don't blame you."

"Yeah, I… I guess I did mean it. I just wish I hadn't said it the way I did. I lost my temper, and… I lost control of myself. I'm sorry. It's just that all the feelings I had built up, and… I let them all out at once. At you."

He sounded so ashamed of himself, that I started feeling really guilty. He didn't deserve to be so hurt. I couldn't bear seeing him torn up like this, knowing that it was my fault.

"Embry, it's… it's not your fault. I shouldn't have demanded you to tell me about imprinting. I should have known that you had a reason for keeping it from me, and I should have trusted you more than I did."

"But that's the worst part." He muttered. "I know that I never should have kept it from you."

"Why did you?" I asked.

He lowered his head even more, looking further ashamed.

"I was just… I was so glad that you didn't start freaking out when you found out I was a wolf. You were okay with it in the end, and you still looked at me the same way. You don't know how afraid I was that you wouldn't. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you something that would probably freak you out even more." He admitted.

"I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know how I feel. Not that it matters or anything, but…"

"Of course it matters! Embry, imprinting or not, you're my best friend, and you always have been. You're the one that I can always count on to make me feel better, because you just… you have that effect on me. That confidence that I can tell you anything."

I saw the corner of his lips turn up slightly in the faint light.

"I always prided myself on that." He said.

"What?"

"The fact that you trusted me more than Jacob. Even back in middle school, I'd always feel good when you told me about something." He admitted.

"In middle school?"

"Yeah. You'd tell me all about everything that happened to you… Even that time you got an F in math, I was the first one you trusted to tell."

"You remember that? That time I was damn afraid to tell my mom so I asked you to do it for me?" I asked, surprised.

"Of course I remember it."

"But… I thought… I mean, it was the imprinting thing that…"

"Imprinting only shows you what's already there, Cherry." Embry said. "I liked you even before I imprinted on you. Way before that."

"What? When?"

"That time you got rid of your glasses and started using contacts in the 7th grade."

"What did my glasses have to do with it?"

"It was the first time I really noticed how beautiful your eyes were. And, well, I started noticing other things after that. I didn't really know it, but…. I've been feeling this way for a long time." He said.

And that's when I felt the first tear start to form. Because quite frankly, who could stop themselves from crying in a situation like this? A guy, an _amazing___guy has been in love with me since the 7th grade. And I was too stupid to notice. I can't believe I though Jacob was blind.

"Cherry, are you okay?" Embry asked, sounding worried.

"I-'m f-fine." I choked out, making it very clear that I was not okay. I tried turning my face away from him, but he reached out and turned it right back, putting a really hot hand on my cheek.

"Crap, Cherry, I'm sorry." He apologized, sounding horrified at the fact that I was crying. Because, you know, I really don't cry. "I… I didn't mean to upset you!"

"I feel so stupid." I blurted out. "And so dumb, I… god, this is so embarrassing."

And that's when he pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around me, pressing my face into his chest. And it felt so good. So comforting, because I knew he was there. He cared about me, and he loved me. I didn't let go even when the tears stopped, because I didn't want to. I didn't bother thinking about _why_ I didn't want to let go of Embry. I just knew that I didn't. And we stood there like that, for god knows how long.

Until something hard slammed into my arm, and I jumped back, realizing that someone had tried to push open the front door, except me and Embry had been in the way.

"Oh… my….god!" I heard Kim squeak, when she saw me and Embry, you know, in each other's arms. Even though we'd jumped apart by then, it still looked like we'd been… you know. Kissing.

"Um…" was all I managed to let out, while Kim turned a bright shade of red.

"I… am… so…. Sorry!" she cried, looking mortified. "I can't believe I- Jared, I'm going to murder you! Why didn't you tell me they were out there?" she cried, going back into the house.

There was a small silence after she left, closing the door behind her. And all I could think about, was how much I missed the warmth of Embry's body now that we weren't hugging any more.

"That was awkward." Embry said, and I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Cherry, are you… are you still upset?"

"Not at you, Embry." I assured him. "I just feel stupid because, well, all the time I thought Jacob was blind… I was doing the same thing to you. And I feel really embarrassed. And guilty."

"Cherry, you don't need to feel guilty about anything." Embry assured me.

"Thanks, Embry. God, I'm really lucky to have you."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I said, smiling at him. "We're good now, right?"

"We were always good, Cherry."

I smiled. I had my best friend back, but somehow I wasn't completely satisfied. Something was incomplete and I knew exactly what it was.

Because I was now getting butterflies in my stomach around Embry.

Talk about clichéd.

**I wanna thank everyone for those awesome reviews! I swear, they make me feel so good! And if anyone has any suggestions, they're welcome! **

**I realized after I finished writing the chapter that front doors usually open inwards and not out… Oops!**

**I know most of us expected Embry and Cherry to get together in this chapter. So did I. But somehow I couldn't bring myself to do it! It's just that the entire story was leading up to the one moment when they say the three magic words to each other, and I love this story so much that I don't want to end it! Gosh, I'm too emotional for my own good. **

**Anyway guys, keep reviewing please, it's what makes me love writing!**


	19. Bella's Gone

**Chapter 19**

Okay, so I'll admit it. I thought things would be great, once I patched everything up with Embry. I thought they would go back to normal, and we could be happy again. But they didn't.

Don't get me wrong. It's not Embry's fault. He's been treating me the way he always has- like a good friend. The problem's with me. I can't help but feel incomplete. And every time he's not around I get this sudden longing to go and find him. Even if I'd seen him barely 10 minutes ago.

I was sitting alone at home when the weirdest thing happened. Mom and Dad had gone down to the Clearwater's, for Mr. Clearwater's funeral. He'd died of a heart attack I think, and their family was really freaking out. I'd opted to stay behind. I'm not a coward, but funerals just creep me out. That's when the doorbell rang.

"Jake?" I asked in surprise, as I saw him standing at the door. "What are you doing here? Didn't you go down to the funeral?"

Jake shook his head, without saying anything.

"Are… are you okay?" I asked. "Did something happen?"

"She's gone." He croaked.

I stared at him.

"W-who's gone, Jake?" I asked. But I already knew the answer. I'd known this was going to happen. Everybody but Jake had.

"Bella." He croaked out again. His voice was cracking badly now, and he looked on the verge of tears. "She left. For that bloodsucker."

"Jake, come in." I said, opening the door wider. He walked in, and sat down on the couch, shaking a little. I wondered if he was stable.

"I begged her not to." He continued. "I begged her to stay, but she wouldn't listen."

"Jake, she was never the right person for you." I said softly. I felt a sudden urge to say 'I told you so' but I stopped myself. It wouldn't help the situation. "She doesn't deserve you."

"Right. She deserves Mr. Perfect, the stinking LEECH!" Jacob yelled. "What does he have over me, huh? The bastard hurt her, and I fixed her up! She was in depression before she met me, and I helped her get out of it!"

"She was using you, Jake. She never deserved your feelings." I said.

'But she got them! _I loved her!_"

He'd stood up now, and was shaking badly. He looked like he was going to phase any minute, and I wondered whether I should even stay there, or run for it.

"Jake, relax." I said, putting my hands on his shoulders. "Just take a deep breath and calm down for a moment."

He breathed in and out, and the shaking lessened. But it was still there.

"Jake, you've always got us." I said. "You're not alone." I gave him a quick hug, hoping it would reduce the shaking. And it worked. He calmed down considerably, looking a bit more relaxed. Until I heard a cough behind me and turned around.

And I saw Embry, standing there with a weird expression on his face.

And he'd just seen me hugging Jake.

I knew where this was going.

"Embry!" I said, letting go of Jake and turning around. "What are you doing here?"

"I met your parents at the funeral." He said. "They told me you were here, so I figured I'd give you company. I didn't realize you already had some."

Oh damn. This was not going to be good. I figured honesty was the best policy.

"Jake came over because Bella's gone." I told Embry. "She left for Cullen."

"I see. So Jake came here." Embry said, sounding disbelieving. "He came over here in a _highly emotional state_."

"Embry-"

"What the hell were you thinking?" Embry growled at Jake. "Coming over _here_! What if you'd phased? What if you'd hurt Cherry?"

"Man, I was under control." Jake growled. He was shaking again, looking furious.

"No, you're clearly not under control! Look at you, shaking!" Embry yelled.

Jake started shaking even more badly, and Embry stepped forward, pushing me out of the way.

"Cherry, go upstairs." He said angrily, as Jacob started to shake furthermore, gritting his teeth. "Go, now!"

And I fled. I ran upstairs into my room. I heard a few growls from below, and then the slamming of a door. Then Embry appeared in my doorway.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded.

"He was unstable, Cherry. I can't believe he even had the guts to come over here when he was like that! He could have hurt you!" Embry cried.

"He was upset!" I yelled. "The girl he loved just ditched him, and you kicked him out? He needs help, Embry; he needs someone to comfort him!"

"Damn right he does, but he can't come over to you!" Embry yelled. "You don't understand how dangerous he is right now! A few more minutes and he could have hurt you really badly if he lost control! He was shaking!"

I sighed, flopping down on my bed.

"Whatever, Embry."

He walked over slowly and sat on the bed next to me, taking my hand in his.

"I'm sorry, Cherry. I guess I over-reacted." He admitted. "I just couldn't bear the thought of something happening to you. I couldn't live with myself if I let you get hurt."

And that's when I felt the butterflies again. He'd kicked Jacob out because he cared about me. Because he was afraid that I would get hurt.

"That's so sweet." I said. And then instantly turned red. Because I hadn't meant to say it out loud.

Embry just smiled at me.

"You're adorable when you blush."

Damn. I think I looked like a tomato.

**Sorry guys! Really quick chapter, but the next ones will be longer and more interesting, I promise! Thanks for all the reviews and suggestions! I swear, I reread every one like, thrice because they make me feel so good!**


	20. More Worry

**Chapter 20 **

Things started to get bad after Bella came back. Jacob was more torn up than ever, and spent days and days in the forest. At least, that's what Embry told me. They couldn't get him to change back. And no matter how much anyone tried, he just couldn't get over Bella.

I hated her for doing this to my best friend. It was awful to see the usually lively Jake so sullen and withdrawn, just because of her. The bitch didn't know what she was doing to him.

And then things got even worse, if that was possible. Some stupid vampire was spotted in Forks, and according to the pack, she's here for Bella. So not only is she hurting Jake, she's endangering all of us. And the pack is spending more time than ever on patrol.

I haven't even spoken to Embry or Quil in the past three days. I tried calling them up every once in a while, but they were either on patrol or sleeping. I felt bad for disturbing them, and gave up calling altogether.

But I missed Embry. Not seeing him or hearing his voice was tearing me up. In the end, I just called him whenever he wasn't at home, so that I could hear his _voicemail_. How desperate am I? It's creeping me out, the way I'm more attached to him than ever. But I guess I should have expected it. He told me himself, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

So there I was, lying on my bed another lonely night, when I felt a sudden gust of wind. This was weird, because I never opened my bedroom window. That's when I saw a large figure gracefully sliding into my room. So I did what any sensible person would do.

I screamed.

Until a huge hand covered my mouth and made me shut up.

"Cherry! Relax, it's just me!" Embry's voice hissed. I felt my heartbeat slow down.

"Embry_?_! What the hell are you doing, sneaking into my room?"

"Look, we don't have a lot of time, I-" he paused suddenly, cocking his head. "Your parents are coming. Make something up."

And he slid into my closet, seconds before me mom burst into the room.

"Cherry! Sweetie, what happened, we heard you scream!" she cried, sounding worried.

"Oh, that… there was just a bee in the room." I explained. "But, um, I opened the window and let it out. It's gone now." I said, gesturing towards my open window.

"Oh." Mom said, relaxing a little. "Okay. Shut the window then. It's freezing in here."

"Yup. Sorry I scared you. Goodnight, mom."

"Night, sweetie."

She left the room, and Embry came out of the closet instantly.

"Okay, we don't have a lot of time." He said. "Grab a change of clothes, your cell phone, and laptop, whatever and let's get out of here."

"What?" I demanded. "Why? Where are we going?"

"Look, you trust me, right?" he asked.

"Well, obviously, but-"

"Then I'll explain in the car. Just get the stuff and let's go, please."

I was dying to know what was going on, but I could see that Embry was serious. I grabbed my backpack, stuffed in a pair of clean clothes, my laptop and my cell phone and turned to Embry.

"Okay, where are we going?" I asked. "And for how long? Will my parents notice that I'm missing?"

"Write a note saying that you went jogging." Embry said. "We'll leave it on the table, and they'll see it in the morning. You can come back around midday."

I nodded, grabbing a piece of paper off my desk and scribbling down what Embry asked me to. He took the paper as we went downstairs, left it on the dining table, and quietly crept out of the front door.

"Okay. Tell me what's going on." I said, as I put my seat belt on in the front passenger seat of Embry's car. "Where are we going?"

"I'm dropping you off at Sam and Emily's. You're staying there the night. Don't worry, Emily, Kim, Rachel and Claire will all be there."

"All the imprints? But why?"

"Because the pack's fighting tonight."

"Fighting? Fighting who, exactly?"

"The newborns."

I stared at him.

"The newborns? Like the army that the vampire who's stalking Bella created?"

"The same one."

"_Why?_" I demanded. "Why the hell are _you_ fighting Bella's battle? Can't poor little Cullen protect her, or what?"

"It's a big army, Cherry. They need the entire wolf pack. And it could be really dangerous. That's why I want you at Emily's place, because Brady and Collin are going to be protecting it."

"And who's going to be protecting you?"

"I can take care of myself, Cherry."

"Embry, this is crazy." I said "You can't go. You're not risking your life for Bella."

"Look, we don't have time." Embry said. We'd reached Sam and Emily's driveway, and Embry stopped the car, getting down with me.

"Embry, don't go." I said, all of a sudden. I grabbed his arm and looked him in the eyes, hoping it would convince him. "Please don't go, Embry."

He looked at me, torn.

"I have to, Cherry." He said, picking up my bag and walking up to the front door. "Don't worry about me. I can handle it."

"But you'll come back. Promise me you'll come back." I insisted, taking the bag from him.

Embry looked pained.

"I promise I'll come back, Cherry."

But we both knew he wasn't sure.

"I'll miss you." I said. "Be safe. Please."

"I will." He said, taking my hand in his and squeezing it tight. "I love you."

"I-" I wanted to say it back. So badly. But I couldn't. "I'll miss you."

He just smiled at me. Then he leaned down, kissed my forehead gently, and walked away, disappearing into the darkness. The night never felt so cold.

It was nice not to be so alone. I thought I'd be the only one sitting there and worrying my head off, but Emily, Kim, and Rachel were all as tense as I was. Even Claire was acting restless, refusing to eat her dinner, or go to sleep even though she was yawning so wide I could see her tonsils every few minutes.

"We should really do something." Emily said. "There's no use in all of us sitting here and worrying. It's not going to change anything."

"I can't." Kim said. "I can't help but imagine what might happen if he doesn't come back. If _any_ of them don't come back."

Rachel nodded in agreement.

"I wonder what's going on there." She said. "Emily, has Sam called yet?"

"I've been sitting in the room with you for the past 2 hours. Of course he hasn't called." Emily said. "How about something to eat? I think I'll make some cookies. It'll help us take our mind off things. You want to help, Cherry?"

"No thanks." I said. "I… I don't feel like baking. I'm not really hungry either."

Emily shrugged and walked into the kitchen, leaving the rest of us alone.

"How about a movie or something?" Rachel asked. "I swear, if I sit here idly for another minute worrying, I'm going to explode."

I nodded.

"Yeah. Put one in." I said, and Rachel walked over to a shelf where there was a stack of DVD's.

"Eugh." She said. "What's with all the old classics? Who even watches 'The Sound of Music' anymore?"

"Sam." Emily called from the kitchen. "He loves that movie."

"Okay…. How about Alvin and the Chipmunks?"

"No." Kim said instantly. "That's Jared's favorite movie. I won't be able to think about anything but him, while we're watching."

Rachel took a step away from the shelf.

"Well, that was a waste of time." She said. "No movies."

This was going to be one long, long night.


	21. They're Back!

**Chapter 21**

I really don't remember falling asleep. Maybe somewhere between 2 or 3 in the morning. But the light was shining through the window when I woke up. My neck ached from falling asleep in an armchair. Rachel was spread out on the sofa, fast asleep, and Kim's eyes were closed where she was curled up on a rug.

"Hey. You're up." Emily said with a smile. "Do you want some breakfast? I'm not done cooking yet, but maybe you could make yourself some toast in the meantime."

"I'm not hungry." I said. "Did Sam call?"

"Yes." Emily said. "He couldn't speak for long, but he said things were okay. The pack should be back by midday."

I smiled, relief flooding into me. He was okay.

"I'm going to go home." I said. "Make sure my mom doesn't know that I was gone all night, and maybe take a shower. I'll be back in an hour."

"Okay." Emily said. "Go ahead.'

I jogged home, and walked into the kitchen where mom just smiled at me. She hadn't noticed that I'd been gone, and casually asked if I'd had a nice jog.

I kept true to my word, and returned to Emily's place after a quick shower and a change of clothes. I walked into the living room, and the first thing I saw was a pained-looking Jared sitting on the couch. He was slumped over, and Kim was sitting right beside him, looking terrified.

"Hey." I said. "You're back. Where's everyone else?"

Jared glanced up at me, and made a face. That's when I noticed that his ankle was sticking in a direction ankles should never stick in, and that Emily was kneeling by his feet, looking at it.

"Okay, this is going to hurt." She said, and her hands reached out to hold his ankle. My hand went to my mouth in shock as she twisted it hard, and the bone fell back into place with a sickening crack. Jared let out an anguished yell, but his expression softened, and he looked better.

"Oh my god." I squeaked. "Are you okay? Shouldn't you see a doctor?"

"No." he said. "It'll be completely healed in an hour at worst. Besides, Carlisle is looking after the more… serious cases."

"Serious cases?" I demanded. "What serious cases? Is someone hurt? Who is it?"

I couldn't help that sick feeling from rising to my throat.

"Embry is fine." Jared said. "But I heard that something happened to Quil, I… I'm not too sure." His eyes drooped a little, and he looked exhausted. "I can't think straight. I need some sleep."

Jared fell sideways on the sofa, and Kim quickly got up to make room for him to lie down. I left the room, feeling the bile coming up to my throat.

What had happened to Quil? What if he was seriously hurt? What if he was _dead?_ Oh my god. Oh my god…..

I was standing on the front porch, when I saw a few figures coming down the road. I ran up to them quickly, and saw Sam and Paul headed in the direction of the house.

"Cherry?" Sam asked, looking surprised to see me. "What are you doing out here? You should go home. Now."

I stared at him. He looked pretty tired, but other than that, I could see no injuries on either of their bodies.

"Home?" I repeated. "But where's everyone else? Where's Embry?"

"He's helping with Quil." Sam told me. "They'll be here in a few minutes… Cherry, you really shouldn't see this. I think it would be best if you went home."

"Why?"

"Just go home. I'll tell Embry to come see you as soon as he's back."

"Are-are you sure?"

"Yes." Sam said.

I waited for ages. At least, it felt like ages. It was probably more like half an hour. But I don't because I wasn't looking at the clock. My gaze was fixed on the street on which my house was located, hoping to see Embry come up it.

But he didn't.

And I couldn't understand why. Had something happened? Was there something serious going on? Maybe Embry really was hurt, and Jared had gotten it wrong….

Feeling sick with worry, I grabbed my jacket and headed back to Sam's house. I wasn't even sure why I had listened to him and gone home in the first place. It's just that even though he was only an alpha to the guys, even normal people found it hard to say no to him.

There was some chaos outside the house. I saw most of the wolf pack standing outside, including Jared, Paul, Collin and Brady. They all seemed tense, and it was obvious that something was wrong. I was about to go up to one of them, when I saw the front door open, and Embry step out.

And my stomach turned over.

I realized in those few seconds how much I'd missed him, and how worried I'd been. Relief flooded into me, along with the need to hold him and be close to him.

He didn't notice me for a few seconds, and he started speaking to Paul. Then he glanced up, and our eyes met.

I can't describe what I saw in his eyes. Love, longing, concern…. It was everything I wanted him to feel towards me.

He cut off his conversation with Paul, and came jogging over to me looking worried.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked, looking nervous. "Sam said he told you to go home, it's probably best if you weren't here. I'm sorry I didn't come over, I-"

I cut him off by throwing my arms around him. A part of me was uncomfortably aware of the rest of the guys watching us, but deep inside, I just didn't care. I needed to feel his warmth and be with him now. I needed to know that he was here.

Embry went stiff for a second in surprise, but he quickly put his arms around me too, pulling me closer to him so that my face was pressed up against his shoulder. I could feel his chin on my head, and his arms tightening around my waist. And I loved the feeling.

"I missed you," was all I managed to blurt out. And I regretted it instantly. _Stupid Cherry! That's the best you can say? That you missed him? Tell him the truth!_

"I missed you too, Cherry. I'm sorry I didn't come over as soon as I came back." He apologized.

"It's okay. _You're _okay. That's all I want."

He nodded, and didn't say anything. He smiled an uncomfortable smile.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him. _No, you idiot! That's not what you're supposed to say! You're supposed to tell him how much you care!_

"Yeah, I… everything's fine." He said quickly, but the pain in his eyes was too obvious.

"You're not a good liar Embry." I told him.

"Well, I could never keep anything from you." He said with a sigh. "Not with the way you look at me, at least."

"How do I look at you?" I asked. He didn't answer my question.

"It's Quil." Embry said. "He's… not in great shape."

My heart dropped down into my stomach. At least it felt that way.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Don't you guys heal superfast? How can he be alive but not in good shape?"

"Cherry, he'll be fine. Just drop it." Embry said. He looked tired, but I had to know.

"What do you mean drop it? He's my best friend too! Tell me what's wrong!"

"Look, you don't want to know. Trust me."

"Yes, I do!"

"Fine. One of his ribs broke, and… well, it punctured his lung."

I felt my breakfast almost come up to my throat as I pictured it. Oh my God.

"I told you that you didn't want to know." Embry said. "You've always been queasy about stuff like that."

"How can I not be queasy?" I asked. "His rib…_oh god_, I think I'm going to puke. Where is he?"

"At the hospital." Embry said. "Dr. Cullen's taking care of him."

"So let's go! What are we waiting for, we have to go see him." I cried.

"We can't. Cullen asked us to leave until he called." Embry said. He put his hands on my shoulders. "Cherry, relax. Quil is going to be perfectly fine."

"I hope so."

Embry hugged me again.

_Why didn't I just tell him?_


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

I and Embry walked over to his place, because he wanted to get some sleep. I probably should have gone home to let him rest, but I didn't want to. I wanted to stay with him. Awake or asleep, being near Embry was what I wanted right now.

He fell asleep on the sofa, and after staring at him for a while, I decided that I needed something to do. I felt desperate watching him sleep. I didn't want to turn on the TV because it might wake him up. I walked around the house for a while, before going into the kitchen. I pulled open the refrigerator and looked around. Let's see…. Eggs, check. Butter, check. Cocoa powder, check. I pulled open a couple of drawers and managed to find flour, and a mixing bowl.

I'd just started mixing everything together, when Embry walked into the kitchen.

"Hey. You're awake already?" I asked.

He nodded, walking over to the countertop and sitting on it. I personally thought that it might break, but figured he might feel insulted if I told him that. It's not like he was fat. Just big.

"I couldn't sleep." He said. "I kept thinking about Quil, and…"

He trailed off. I tried to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach.

"Have you heard anything about him?" I asked.

"Yeah. Cullen texted me. Said that we couldn't see him until later tonight. He said that he would give me a call once Quil was ready for visitors."

"But he's better?"

"He's better."

I nodded, feeling a little relieved.

"So… what are you doing?" he asked. "I figured you'd get bored and go home. It's not fun watching someone sleep."

"Yeah. Especially not when they snore."

Embry looked embarrassed.

"I do not-"

"I know, you don't! I was just kidding!" I said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He said, watching me as I mixed the contents of the bowl with a long spoon. My hands were a little messy, and a few strands of my hair were coming onto my face. I tried pushing them back without getting flour all over them, but they just kept coming back. "Urgh…"

"Here, let me do it." Embry said. He leaned over the counter, carefully pushing the strands of hair back behind my ear. Except they were too short for that and they came back again.

"Ugh, forget it." I groaned. I blew upwards, and they hovered in the air for a few second before falling back in front of my eyes. Embry was chuckling.

"God, Cherry. You're seriously too cute." He said, with a smile. I turned red. "Do you have a hairpin or something?"

"Yeah!" I said, remembering. "In my pocket."

He reached into the pocket of my baggy pants, and pulled out a hairpin. He then scooted over on the counter so he was sitting right beside where I was standing, my side touching his legs. He gently pushed my hair out of my face, and stuck the pin in, ensuring that it wouldn't irritate me again. We looked into each other's eyes for a moment.

"You're so beautiful." He muttered softly. He might have thought that I didn't hear him, but I did. And I turned even more red than I did before, and Embry turned away looking embarrassed.

"Embry, I-" I started to say. I wanted to say it out. I just wanted him to know how I felt. And I was excited. How would he react?

"No, I'm sorry." He said, looking ashamed of himself. "I need to learn how to control myself."

"Embry, you don't need to-"

"I'm just awesome at making you feel uncomfortable, aren't I?" he asked, not listening to me. I felt a burst of irritation. Why couldn't he just understand that I felt the same way?

"Shut up." I snapped at him. He looked hurt for a second, until I put both of my hands on his cheeks. And rubbed as much flour as I could onto them.

Embry looked horrified, once I'd removed my hands.

"Did you just…"

"Yep." I giggled.

He shoved his hands into my mixing bowl, and then planted them right back on my cheeks before I could duck.

"Embry!" I cried.

"Yes?"

"It's so on!"

I put as much flour onto my hands as I could, and so did he. Though I've got to say that it was kind of an unfair fight. I mean, hello! I was up against a werewolf for god's sake!

In the end, he had me cornered. I put my hands up in defense as I cowered against the kitchen wall, and I realized that there wasn't much flour left on my hands. And Embry had plenty.

"How about a truce?" I asked, as he advanced on me slowly.

"Not really."

"I'll do anything?" I asked weakly.

"I'm not sure anything could be more fun than this. Let's face it, Cherry. You're cornered. And there's no way out." He said with a smile. An evil smile.

"But-but we're best friends!" I cried. At least, that's what I said. But it sounded wrong. It sounded all wrong.

"Too late." He said. He was just a few inches away from me, and I closed my eyes, ready for the moment when his hands would rub the flour all over my face and hair.

But that moment never came.

I opened my eyes in surprise after a few seconds, and saw that Embry was much closer than he'd been a few seconds ago. His eyes were staring into mine, and I could feel his chest heaving up and down, as he breathed heavily. I could feel his warm breath on my face. One of his hands reached out, and gently grasped my arm, as he came closer. Our bodies were almost touching.

I remembered the last time this had happened. We'd been in the forest then, and in the same position. I hadn't known what to think, then. I'd been confused, surprised. But the emotion I felt now was different. Completely different. It was excitement.

I closed my eyes, preparing myself. This was my first kiss, and I was determined to make it count.

Until I felt a faint vibration against my leg. I opened my eyes, and he was gone. Well, not gone, exactly. He was a few feet away, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

And I couldn't help but feel this horrible sense of disappointment.

"?" he said into the phone. I watched him curiously. I know I should have been concerned. Cullen wouldn't call up for no reason; there might be something wrong with Quil. But I couldn't help but wish that Cullen had called just a few seconds later. Maybe after Embry had kissed me.

"Yeah, I know." He was saying. "I figured….. Sure… yeah. I'll be there. Thank you."

He hung up and glanced at me.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Quil's ready for visitors." Embry said uncomfortably. I didn't like the way he looked at me. It looked like he felt guilty, like he'd been about to do something wrong.

He didn't know how wrong he was.

**Okay guys! Couple of things I want to say**

**Thank you so much for the reviews! I'm really hoping that more will come in, because I just LOVE reading them!**

**I'm a little stuck on what to do next. Should Jacob imprint on Renesmee or not? **

**Hope you like this chapter! I'm trying to put in a bit more drama in the next few, but I'm still stuck. I don't really want anything involving stalkerish vampires, but if anyone has any other suggestions, they're welcome!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

We didn't speak the whole drive to the Forks Hospital. He was almost ignoring me, and I was too embarrassed to say anything. I was feeling a little hurt too, because he hadn't even mentioned it. Does that mean he regretted almost kissing me?

We found Quil's hospital room in silence, where we saw Dr. Cullen walking outside the corridor with a clipboard and a pen in his hand. He smiled at us pleasantly and I smiled back. It was hard to believe that this guy drank blood to stay alive. Or stay dead. Whichever way you looked at it.

"Can we see him?" Embry asked, and Dr. Cullen nodded in response.

"Yes. He just woke up a little while ago. Be careful though, he's still in a very fragile condition." Dr. Cullen explained the smile still on his face.

"But he'll be all right?" I asked.

"He'll be perfectly fine."

Embry pushed open the door, and I followed him in. the room was plain, and shockingly white. I felt a little sick. I hated hospital rooms. It's not like I'd had any bad experiences or anything. They just made me really queasy.

"Hey guys." Quil croaked, smiling as he saw us. "Thought you'd forgotten about me."

I winced a little when I saw him. He looked pretty okay - He was sitting upright on his bed with no visible bruises except a large bandage wrapped tightly around his torso. But he looked weak and exhausted.

"We couldn't forget about you, buddy." Embry said lightly, punching him playfully on the arm. It was obvious that he was faking the cheerfulness.

Quil winced.

"Ow. Don't do that."

"Sorry." Embry apologized.

"Hey Cherry." He said, smiling at me. "How's Claire?"

"She was fine, last time I saw her." I said, sitting down on the edge of his bed, by his feet. Embry pulled up a plastic chair. "Nothing to worry about."

"God, I really want to see her." Quil said, with a sigh. "It just, hurts to be away from her, you know? Even though she's just 4."

He gave Embry a meaningful look, as though expecting some sympathy.

"Yeah." Embry said, a little uncomfortably. "I get you man."

I couldn't help but consider what he meant. It hurt him to be away from me? It was weird to think that he had been missing me just as much as I missed him.

There was a loud explosion of rock music, and I quickly put my hand to my pocket, pulling my phone out.

"Sorry." I mumbled apologetically, looking at Quil and Embry, and lifted the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Cherry! It's me, Danny." Danny's voice said, from the other end of the line. I didn't even need to ask why he had called. Danny had only one reason for calling me.

"Danny, I can't do any shifts now." I said.

"But this is an emergency! Andrew didn't turn up _again_ and the place is really busy!"

I could tell that it was. There was plenty of noise in the background.

"But it's really not a good time." I insisted. "I can't-"

"Cherry." Quil said, interrupting my call. I pulled the phone away from my ear to see what he had to say. "You should go. I can live with Embry here for a while."

"I… are you sure?" I asked doubtfully, looking at both of them. Quil gave me an encouraging smile while Embry just nodded, not really meeting my eyes. I felt a sudden urge to get out of there. I couldn't take the awkwardness with Embry. I put the phone back to my ear. "I'll be there in 5, Danny.

Damn, was Danny right about the place being busy. I and Hayley were running around for nearly an hour straight without a break. Soon the place started to empty out though, and we got a few minutes to talk.

"So, how have you been, girl?" she asked. "It's been a while."

"I'm… okay, I guess." I said, not very enthusiastically. I couldn't get my mind off of what had _almost_ happened between me and Embry.

"Well, you don't sound too happy." Hayley said. "Did you still not fix things up with your friends?"

"Oh, no, I'm cool with them now." I said.

"So…?"

"I don't know." I said. "I'm not sure how to explain it. Have you ever had feelings for someone, and then found that someone else has feelings for you, and then felt like an idiot cause you never realized that they liked you, and now you feel even more like an idiot, cause you realize that you liked them all along?"

"No."

"See?"

Hayley laughed, and shrugged. I felt the sudden urge to laugh with her, when I saw a familiar figure enter the coffee shop.

"Jake?" I called out in surprise. He turned to look at me, and offered a weak smile that didn't really reach his eyes before starting to walk over.

"Hey Cherry."

"Hello Jacob!" Hayley said with a smile. "You and your friends haven't been around here much, recently."

Jacob looked a little startled to see her, and then scrunched his eyes up, staring at her in sudden concentration. She seemed a little uncomfortable, until Jacob, looking defeated, turned his eyes away from her with a sigh.

"She's getting married." He said to me.

I stared at him.

"Huh?"

"Bella and Cullen. They're getting married."

I didn't know what to say. I felt like I should say something to console him, but I wasn't sure what. He was probably really torn up about it. It suddenly struck me that the last time something like this had happened, Jacob had been really unstable.

"It's fine." He said weakly, as though he was reading my mind. "I'm not about to blow up at anyone, though I should probably get to Sam's. Can I get a coffee?" He addressed the last remark to Hayley, who nodded and left.

"So… how are you?" I asked him slowly.

"I'm okay. Sam's been on my back, he doesn't want me going off like I did when Bella got back with the leech. How's Quil? I heard he got hurt bad."

"He's doing okay." I said. "Embry is with him."

Jake nodded absently, looking around the café. There was a girl sitting alone near the corner, eyes absorbed in a book, and Jacob stared at her for a few seconds, pretty intently.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Huh?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from the girl with a disappointed expression.

"Why are you staring at her like that? You did the same thing to Hayley a few seconds ago."

"I… I'm not staring."

"Yeah, you are."

"Fine." He muttered. "I just… I don't want to miss the chance of finding the person for me, you know?" he asked. "Since Bella's not the one and all, I figured there has to be someone for me."

"So you've decided to start staring at every girl that crosses your path and freak her out?"

Jake shrugged, looking a little embarrassed and seemed relieved when Hayley came back with a coffee to go.

"Thanks." He said, fishing out the money and putting it on the counter. "I'll see you later, Cherry."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

I wasn't in the best of moods when I walked into the school the next morning. My head hurt from lack of sleep, since all I could think about was Embry, and I was pretty confident about screwing up my History test because I hadn't studied anything.

The moment I reached my locker, I noticed that there was a lot of pink around me. Confused, I glanced around and saw the source of the color. Bright pink fliers were taped to a lot of lockers, and I saw many people holding copies, looking excited. There were similar fliers littering the floor that nobody had bothered to pick up.

"Seen this yet?" a voice asked behind me, and I turned around to see Kim. She was holding the same flier, looking excited. 'Everyone's talking about it!"

"What is it?" I asked taking the one in her hands and looking at it.

"There's a dance this Saturday! Oh my god, I'm totally going to get Jared to go with me!" Kim said. "What about you?"

I shrugged, not really feeling her excitement. I'd never been to a school dance, because I'd never really had anyone to go with. Most guys stayed away from me on account of Jake, Quil and Embry, and all three of them would much rather spend the night with broken car parts.

"I don't know." I said. "I don't usually go to dances."

"But you should! Come on, Paul's planning on going too, and I'm sure Collin, Brady and Seth would come. We can have a blast if you bring Embry."

"I can't _bring_ Embry." I said bitterly. "We're just friends."

"Oh." Kim said, her face falling a little. "I forgot. You guys aren't together yet."

"Nope." I said. "Not yet."

"Never mind." She said, with a shrug. "But it would be awesome if you could come. Just think about it. We could even go shopping together, to get dresses!"

"I'll think about it." I promised her, and she smiled before walking away.

Suddenly a dance didn't seem all that bad.

I think it was around 3rd period that I actually started considering it. By 4th period, I was starting to think it was a great idea. And by lunch…. Well, there was just a matter of gathering the guts to actually do it.

"So, who's planning on going to the dance?" Paul asked when we all sat down for lunch. Embry hadn't spoken to me all day, and he was still avoiding my gaze, acting awkward about last night.

"I'm going." Seth said. "I managed to get Mia Carter to go with me!"

'No way, man!" Brady cried, looking impressed. "She's a babe. I can't believe she would go out with _you_."

"Apparently she likes the muscles I've grown." Seth said, looking proud of himself. "Who said that being a werewolf didn't have its advantages?"

"Shut up Seth." Jared snapped. "Apparently me and Kim are going." He said, shooting her a pleading look. "Do we _have _to, babe?"

"Yeah!" Kim said, smiling. "It'll be fun."

"Sure it will." Jared said, sounding fakely enthusiastic. "But Sam's going to be pissed off if everyone's going to the dance. There won't be anyone on patrol. You know, with Quil in hospital and Jake totally depressed…"

"I'll patrol." Embry said, with a shrug. "Nothing better to do, anyway."

I glanced at him, and our eyes met, but he looked away. I couldn't help but feel hurt. Why was he being so annoying today?

"But you can't do it alone." Paul said. "Who knows where Jake is?"

"I saw him last night." I offered. "He seemed okay. Kind of down, but okay."

"Of course he's down." Jared said. "What with that bitch going and marrying Cullen…. Damn, all those bloodsuckers are the same. Total assholes."

Seth looked like he was going to put in something in defense of the vampires, but he was cut off by the bell. Everyone got up quickly, and I quickly went over to Embry before he could leave and ignore me again.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked quietly. He looked a little worried, but nodded, and hung around until everyone had left the table except us.

"Want me to walk you to class?" He asked, looking a little uncomfortable. "I've got History, its right beside your Bio class, right?"

"Yeah. That would be nice." I said, and we started to walk out of the cafeteria together.

"So, what's up?" He asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance." I said. I was feeling pretty nervous, but I managed not to show it.

Embry didn't really seem surprised.

"You want to go?" He asked. "Are you sure, Cherry? Somehow, I don't think spending the night watching Kim and Jared make out, or Collin, Seth and Brady ogle girls is my idea of fun."

"Not with them." I said. "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me."

"_With_ you?" he asked his expression changing suddenly. "Like a…." He closed his mouth abruptly, like he was afraid to say the word.

"Like a date, yeah." I finished for him.

"Oh." He said.

Somehow, I didn't find that very encouraging.

"It's okay if you don't want to." I said, a little quickly. But Embry was already turning a little red.

"No." he said quickly. "No, I want to."

"Great." I said with a smile, as we reached my class. He returned the smile, and I realized that me asking him out had just fixed all the awkwardness that had been between us. "I'll see you later?"

"Sure. You need a ride home?"

"I was going to catch Quil at the hospital after school." I explained. "Because I didn't get to talk to him yesterday."

"We can go together." He said.

"Okay."

I turned to leave, but Embry stopped me by taking my hand in his. I turned to see if he was going to say something, but he just squeezed my hand gently once, and left.

I couldn't help but smile.

Yes!

**Please Review! **


	25. The Birthday

**Chapter 25**

"So… I asked him out." I told Quil. I was sitting by his bed in the hospital, and I'd been there for almost the past 3 hours. Embry had stayed for a few minutes, but he had to run off because of a call from Sam.

"Wow." Quil said, looking surprised. "That's something new. Also explains why he was in such a good mood today. When's the date?"

"Saturday. I asked him to the school dance."

Quil looked like he was going to laugh.

"A school dance? Seriously?" He asked chuckling.

"Yeah. What's wrong with a school dance?" I asked defensively.

"Well, it's just…..Goes to show he really would do _anything_ for you, Cherry."

"Oh, shut up." I snapped. "Like you wouldn't watch a Barbie movie if Claire asked you to."

Quil went slightly red, and I laughed in surprise.

"Oh my god! You _have_ watched Barbie movies with her!"

"Shut up! Not Barbie! I think I watched Sesame Street with her once or twice, but that's it!"

I smiled, but I turned a little serious again.

"So, I still haven't figured out what to get him for his birthday." I said. "It's tomorrow, and I don't even have any time left to shop."

"Wow. Way to leave things to the last minute, Cherry."

"Shut up! It's not like you got him anything!"

"I'm in the hospital. I have an excuse."

"Very funny." I snapped. "Honestly, Quil, I need some serious advice."

"Well, you could always just kiss him. I'm sure he'd like that."

"Quil!"

…..x….x….x….x….x….x

I was feeling an odd happiness when I made my way up the stairs of Embry's front porch. I knew he wouldn't be expecting it. I glanced at my watch. It was 11:55 pm. Perfect timing. I knocked on the door, knowing he would be up.

The door opened, and Embry broke into a smile when he saw me.

"Wow." He said, looking at me. "I thought you'd forgotten."

I rolled my eyes, smiling at him.

"Of course I didn't forget." I said, grinning. "It's your birthday, Embry."

"Not for another 5 minutes."

"I know. Quil says he's really sorry he couldn't be here." I said, smiling. "But he wanted me to wish you happy birthday. He said he'd call."

"And I guess it's too much to expect Jake to come?"

My smile drooped a little.

"Maybe he'll turn up." I offered weakly, but I think we both knew that he wasn't coming tonight.

"Yeah." Embry said. "So do you want to come in? Or are you going to stand on the front porch and freeze all night?"

I shrugged, smiling as I walked into the house.

"Let's hurry up." I said, holding up the huge tray in my hands that was covered with a lid. "We don't have a lot of time."

"Yup." He said. "Here, let me carry it."

He carefully took the tray from me, and we went into the kitchen, putting it down on the dining table. I fished around the kitchen drawers, and managed to find a knife. I went to join Embry, who was staring wide-eyed at the cake.

"Wow." He said. "Did you _make _that?"

"Of course I made it." I said, trying not to sound smug. "I make cake every time one of you has a birthday."

"Yeah, but you've never made one like _that_."

Okay. So I'm not going to act modest. The cake looked amazing, and I knew it. It should. I'd spent the last 4 hours perfecting it. And even though I usually put in a lot of effort for birthday cakes, I'd never wanted to make a perfect one as badly as now.

"It took some effort." I admitted.

Embry smiled at me, and took my hand in his. I couldn't help but blush a little bit as he sat down in front of the cake, and pulled me down on a chair beside him.

"It looks amazing, Cherry." He said softly, still looking at me intensely. "Thank you."

"Come on!" I said, trying to ignore the blush that was creeping further up my cheeks as I glanced at my watch. "Time for the countdown."

There was exactly one minute left for midnight, and we stared at the watch in silence. Embry was peeking at it over my shoulder, and I could feel a little of his warm breath grazing the side of my cheek. When it came down to the last 10 seconds, we counted out loud together, in low voices.

"3….2…..1!" I whispered, turning to Embry. "Come on!"

Embry smiled at me, keeping one of his hands in mine, while the other reached for the knife. He carefully cut a small piece of the cake out and picked it up it between his fingers.

"Open wide!" he said with a grin, and I let him put the cake in my mouth.

"Crap." I muttered, as I swallowed it. "It didn't come out as good as I thought it would."

Embry shrugged, and started to put another piece in his own mouth. I took it from him and did it myself, my fingers gently grazing against his warm lips. My hand hovered in front of his face as he chewed thoughtfully.

"What are you talking about? It tastes amazing!" he protested. "I mean, you made it. It has to taste amazing."

"Thanks." I said with a smile, a little embarrassed.

Embry didn't respond, but just gave the hand that was still in mine a little squeeze.

"I couldn't figure out what to get you." I admitted, feeling a little upset.

"You don't need to get me anything."

"I know, but I still feel bad."

"Don't." He said softly.

I'm not exactly sure what was running through my mind. But I knew that I wanted him closer, and I placed my other hand on his cheek. He looked surprised, but he didn't move. His eyes just stared down into mine.

"Happy Birthday, Embry." I mumbled. And then I leaned in and did what I'd been wanting to do for a pretty long time. I pressed my lips to his.

…..x…x…x…x…x…..x…x…

The kiss didn't last long, but it was exactly what I wanted. And apparently it was what he wanted too, because he had a pretty big smile on his face.

"Cherry, I-" He began, but he was cut off by his phone ringing. "Um, one minute."

He answered his phone, and I couldn't help but smile as I heard him speak to someone over the line. At least they'd called after the kiss was over. I probably would have been pretty pissed off if they'd interrupted something.

"Quil?" I asked, once Embry had hung up the phone.

"Yeah. He wanted to wish me happy birthday." Embry explained, with a shrug. "But honestly, Cherry, I need to-"

"What are you kids doing down here so late?" a slightly irritated voice asked. We both turned to the doorway, and saw Mrs. Call standing there. Before either of us could explain, though, she noticed the cake, and her expression changed. "Oh, goodness! I almost forgot! Happy Birthday, honey."

Embry smiled.

"Thanks, mom."

"Wow, Cherry, did you make that cake?" She asked me. "It looks amazing."

I smiled. This was amazing.


	26. The Dance

**Chapter 26**

I was feeling light-headed all week. Embry never mentioned the kiss, and I didn't mention it to him either. But he started doing little things like holding my hand whenever we were together, and putting his arm around me. I knew that we would have to figure out our relationship pretty soon, but for now I was happy. He was all I wanted, and I was completely blind to everything else.

Meanwhile, I'd found out from the pack that Bella was pregnant. Don't ask me how that happened, I have no clue. Embry didn't know a lot either, but everyone seemed surprised, so I was forced to assume that it wasn't normal for vampires to have kids. My dislike for her stopped me from asking anyone for details. I convinced myself that it made no difference to me. So what if the bloodsuckers were having spawn? It was none of my business.

Quil also got out of hospital on Thursday. It was pretty awesome to have him back, and it was really adorable how Claire practically leaped into his arms when she saw him. Of course, he keeled over from pain afterwards, and it took a while for us to convince Claire that she couldn't hug Quil for a couple of days, but it turned out okay in the end.

"Can we go _home_ now?" I pleaded Kim. She was still admiring all the dresses in the sales rack, even though we'd both picked out the ones we wanted.

"Isn't this one nice?" She asked, fingering a long midnight blue dress that seemed a little too sparkly for my taste. "I think it looks beautiful."

"I thought you already decided on the dark purple?"

"I did."

"So why do we have to look at more? Let's go home."

"Oh, stop being such a sour-puss!" she said. "I can't believe you didn't even tell Embry to match with your dress!"

"I don't really care if he matches with me, or not." I said simply. "But I do want to get some sleep tonight. Can we go?"

"Fine."

We paid for our clothes, and walked through the mall. Kim couldn't seem to go on without admiring each and every dress or pair of shoes in the store windows. We were outside a jewelers store when Kim stopped again.

"Are we stopping _again?_" I whined, but Kim put her finger to her lips. I looked at her curiously, and she pointed towards the shop.

We both silently walked closer, and peeked in through the glass door. There were two tall guys standing at the counter, and I started when I realized that they were Jared and Paul.

"What are they doing here?" I asked Kim. "In a jewellery store?"

Kim shrugged, and put her finger to her lips again, as she walked into the store silently. I followed her, and we both carefully stood in a corner, with our backs to them.

"No, that one's just weird." Jared's voice said. "It's too…. Big. I want something more classic."

"Dude, just pick one out already." Paul said, sounding exasperated. "We were supposed to meet Quil on the first floor ten minutes ago."

"It's for Kim, it needs to be perfect." Jared said. "And don't worry about Quil. I'm sure he's in some toy store, shopping for Claire."

"Yeah, well, that's better than Jacob. He's probably buying diapers." Paul said, and they both laughed. I listened silently, not getting the joke.

"Fine, I guess I'll take this one." Jared said, after a few moments of silence. "Think she'll like it?"

"Dude, she'd love you if you bought her a rusty iron chain." Paul said. "Come on. Just pay for it."

Kim and I stayed silent as they paid, and left the store.

"Oh my god!" Kim squealed, once they were gone. "He's actually buying something for me? What do you think it was? A bracelet?"

"Maybe." I said, smiling. "But what was all that about Jacob buying diapers?"

"I don't know." Kim said absently, too preoccupied with Jared buying her something. "Do you think I can go to the counter and ask what he bought? Would they tell me?"

"They might. But wouldn't you rather be surprised?" I asked.

"I guess…. Wow, this is so cool!"

-x - x- x-x

"Oh my god, you look wonderful, sweetie!" Mom said, smiling as I came downstairs in the dress. It was a deep maroon, with spaghetti straps and ending at my knees. For once, I actually felt good. I wanted to look awesome for Embry, and I felt like I had managed it.

"Thanks, mom." I said, with a smile. "Think Embry will like it?"

"I'm sure he'll love it." She said. She reached out and put one of my curls on my shoulder. There was a loud knock at the door, and mom smiled even wider.

"Ooh, you should go upstairs! I'll open the door, and you can make a grand entrance!"

"No!" I cried, feeling embarrassed. "It's just Embry, mom. I'll get it."

I pulled open the door and saw Embry, standing there in a formal shirt and a tie. His hair was a little messy, and he ran his hand through it nervously when he saw me.

"Hey." He said. "Wow, you look great."

"Thanks." I smiled. "You look pretty good yourself."

He smiled back, and shrugged.

"So, ready to go?" he asked, and I nodded, stepping outside. I called a good bye to my mom, and then shut the front door behind me.

We walked to the car in silence, and I couldn't help but feel that Embry was acting really tense as we drove to the school. We didn't say much, though, and I ignored it.

"Wow, this place is packed." I said, as we entered the cafeteria. There was barely any space for us to move, and I felt a little claustrophobic.

"Yeah, I know." He said. "I see Kim, Jared and Paul. Want to go there?"

"Sure." I agreed, and I followed him to the corner where the three of them were standing.

"Oh, hey guys!" Kim greeted us with a grin. "You took your time."

"Yeah." I said, with a shrug. "This place is really crowded."

"I know." Jared said, looking hopeful. "Maybe we could just leave….?"

Kim glared at him.

"Just a suggestion…." He said simply, trailing off. "I'll go get some drinks. Anyone coming?"

Paul and Embry went with him, leaving me and Kim.

"Jared gave me the necklace!" she said excitedly, pointing at it. I saw a thin silver chain around her neck, with a small pendant in the shape of a swan. "I think it's beautiful."

"Wow, it is!" I agreed, smiling. "That's really awesome, Kim. Your boyfriend has taste."

"Yeah." She said, looking a little dreamy. "God, I am _so_ lucky to have him! How did Embry react when he saw you in that dress?"

"I think he liked it." I replied, but stopped abruptly as Paul, Embry and Jared came back with drinks in their hands. Embry handed me one, but I couldn't help but notice that his eyes weren't meeting mine.

"Come on, let's dance!" Kim insisted, grabbing Jared's hand, as they both went to the dance floor. Paul muttered something about finding Rachel and left in another direction, leaving me and Embry alone.

"So…" he began, a little awkwardly. "Do you, um, do you want to dance…"

"No way. I think I'd just embarrass myself in front of half the school." I muttered, glancing up to see a relieved Embry.

"Oh, thank god. I was terrified that you would say yes." He admitted with a grin, and I smiled back at him.

"So we're at a dance…" I began slowly. "And neither of us can dance. You know, I don't think that this was one of my best ideas. I should have just asked you to the movies or something."

"Why don't we go outside?" he suggested. "We can take a walk, at least we'll be able to breathe."

I agreed silently, and we both left the cafeteria, Embry holding my hand tightly. It was cold outside, and I found myself snuggling closer to Embry for a little warmth.

"Do you want my jacket?" he asked me softly.

"No. Just you." I replied, looking up at him. I expected him to smile the way he usually did when either of us said anything flirtatious, but instead he stiffened.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him, worried, but he shook his head, and put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me a little closer to him.

"Of course not." He replied. "Cherry, you… you know I'm here for you, right? No matter what, you'll always have me. I want you to know that."

I just stared at him. Why was he saying this? It made me worry even more than before, he was acting as though something was wrong. I hated seeing him upset.

"Embry, are you trying to tell me something?" I asked softly.

"No, I… Look, you asked me to the dance, I just want you to have a good time, okay? This can wait. Trust me." He assured me softly, but I wasn't convinced.

"Embry, I don't give a shit about the dance." I told him firmly. "It was just an excuse to ask you out. If there's something going on, I want you to tell me."

I watched silently as Embry's face fell. He looked almost broken, and my heart skipped a beat. What could possibly have upset him so much?

He turned to face me, dropping my hand, and gently cupping my cheek instead. His eyes stared into mine, and I felt the desperate need to pull him even closer, and hold him tightly.

"Not tonight." He muttered. "I just want one more night with you."

"Embry, we have the rest of our lives." I told him, but my voice was shaking. _Did we_? What wasn't he telling me? What could possibly be so horrible?

"Not after I tell you. Everything's going to change." He muttered, more to himself than me. "I can't stand to see you upset, Cherry, it tears me apart, I wish there was something I could do, I just…"

"You're making it sound like you have some kind of a terminal illness or something." I muttered angrily. "And you're scaring me. What is it? Did you… I don't know, imprint on someone else or something?"

He laughed humorlessly.

"If only." He mumbled. "That's not possible. You're the only one for me."

"So what is it?"

"Dance with me."

"_What_?"

"Dance with me." He repeated softly. "Please."

What the hell was wrong with him?

"Didn't we go through this already?" I asked. "I told you, I don't want to embarrass myself."

"In front of everyone else. There's only you and me out here."

He stepped closer to me, his hands resting gently on my waist. I felt butterflies go through my stomach as I put my hands on his shoulders and he pulled me even closer, his forehead resting against mine as we looked into each other's eyes.

Oh god, I'm going to melt right now.

"You look beautiful." He told me softly, as we gently swayed to the faint music that we could hear coming from the cafeteria. I liked it better this way. I could hear his soft breathing, and his heartbeat. "You always do, but…"

"What are you waiting for?" I asked him.

"Huh?"

"Well, let's face it Embry." I murmured softly. "I was the one who kissed you on your birthday. _And_ I asked you to the dance tonight. It seems to me like it's your turn to make the first move."

I hardly think he needed more encouragement than that. He pulled me to him so fast that we almost banged into each other, and before I knew it, his warm lips were on mine, his hands almost scorching my cheeks as he cupped them tightly.

_I think I'm in heaven._

I don't think it lasted too long, but it was a hundred times better than the first time, when I'd just pecked him on the lips. I was practically begging for more when he pulled away, but I smiled widely at him.

He didn't return the smile.

He looked horrified, almost ashamed, and for a few seconds I could almost feel my heart breaking. Why did he look like that? Had I done something wrong?

"I-I can't." he muttered, stepping away from me. In an instant, his warmth was gone, and I found myself almost shivering from the cold. "It's too hard, Cherry, I…"

"You what?" I asked him, my voice icy. I just couldn't help but feel pissed off.

He turned to look at me, his eyes soft, and upset.

"Bella delivered her… her baby yesterday."

"_What?_" I demanded. "Embry, what the hell is wrong with you, what does this have to do with-"

"Just listen to me, please." He begged, grabbing my hand. I sighed, and looked at him.

"Fine."

"She had the kid, it's some sort of… I don't know, some weird half-breed, I guess." He told me. "We're not entirely sure what it does, but the thing grows freakishly fast, and…"

"And?" I demanded. I was still waiting to find out how this was even slightly relevant.

"Jake imprinted on it."

I stared at him.

"Are you _kidding me?_" I burst out, in shock.

"Cherry, I wish it didn't have to happen this way, honestly." Embry began, speaking really fast. "I know you're upset, but I'm here for you, I always will be, and…"

Before I knew it, he'd thrown his arms around me, and I was being enveloped in a bear hug.

"Embry…" I began awkwardly, slowly prying his arms from around me. "I don't get it. Why the hell are you hugging me?"

Embry looked torn.

"I… I'm sorry, I just thought you'd need a hug because you'd be upset, and…"

"Why would I be…"I began, but then I trailed off.

It was all starting to sink in now.

"You think I like Jake." I said coldly, and Embry just stared at me.

"Well, yeah, of course you-"

A shark smack echoed through the silent night, as I slapped him hard on the face.

And hell, it _hurt_. My hand was stinging in pain when I pulled it away from his face, but I couldn't care less. The anger that was bubbling up in my throat seemed more important right now.

"Oh my god, are you _okay_?' Embry demanded, reaching out to look at my injured hand. The fact that I'd just slapped him hadn't seemed to register at all in his head. I flinched away from him.

"You… you _idiot_!" I hissed furiously. "How could you think that? How could you think that Jake imprinting on someone would upset me? I mean, damn, yeah, I wish he hadn't done it on Bella's spawn, but I don't _like_ him!"

"I just… you never told me that you were over him, so I guess I just thought…"

"I didn't _need _to tell you that I was over him!" I cried. "What do you think I've been doing for the past week? I kissed you, I asked you out, does this sound like a girl who likes someone else?"

Embry looked shocked, his mouth dropping open slightly.

"No, I know that, I just thought that-"

"I know what you thought, you don't need to tell me! You thought I was using you the way Bella used Jake! You thought you were a goddamn _rebound_!"

My voice cracked at the end, and I found myself almost crying.

"Cherry, I'm so sorry." Embry whispered, taking a step closer to me. I flinched away from him again, as the tears started to spill over my cheeks. "I'm so sorry, I just thought… I thought that it was too good to be true. I thought that the kiss, everything, it couldn't be real…. I mean, how could it be?"

"It _was_ real." I choked out. "It was real because I haven't thought about Jake that way in a long time, now. I love _you_."

And I turned away and ran, tripping over my heels and almost stumbling over the grass, but I didn't care.

Because Embry hadn't followed me.

**A/N – Well, I've done it! Personally, I don't think I really like this chapter so much, but it had to be done. I couldn't just end the story, and I fully intend to keep writing it for as long as I keep getting those amazing reviews! I swear, the only reason I forced myself to sit down and finish this chapter was because I read through the reviews, and I felt like I was letting you guys down somehow. **


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

"Teddy and Claire-Bear to the rescue!" Quil called out in a jokey voice, as he and Claire burst into my kitchen. According to what I'd heard, Claire's most recent obsession was with some stupid cartoon show about superheroes. And since Quil would do anything to make her happy, he'd been forced to adopt a superhero name, and fight crime with her in his free time.

"It's not Claire-Bear!" Claire whined, looking annoyed. "I told you, my superhero name is supposed to be Princess!"

"Sorry." He apologized. "I like Claire-Bear better."

"But I want to be called Princess!" She whined, stomping her foot on the ground.

"All right, whatever you say, _your highness_."

I rolled my eyes at them, watching them play around. Honestly, I thought Claire was cute and all, but I don't think I'd be able to stand constantly playing pretend games with her and helping her dress up. But Quil never complained. In fact, in a slightly disturbing way, I think he almost enjoyed it.

"Hello?" I called, waving my hand around to get their attention. "You can't leave the damsel in distress waiting over here!"

"Sorry." Quil apologized. He picked Claire up with his arms, and hoisted her up onto the kitchen counter. "Ready to fight some crime?"

"Yeah!" she chirped excitedly. "Where are the bad guys, Cherry?"

"Right here." I replied, opening the fridge. I pulled out plate after plate of various bakes- there were cookies, brownies, cupcakes, muffins, and plenty of other stuff. Quil and Claire just watched me, their mouths hanging open slightly. Once I was done putting them all on the counter, I shut the door of the refrigerator, and turned to them. "Well? Think you can take them on?"

"I don't know. That's a lot of bad guys." Claire admitted, her eyes glowing as she looked at them. "But the Princess can do anything!"

"Of course she can!" I replied, with a smile. "And do you want to know the secret to killing these bad guys?"

Claire giggled.

"What is it?" she asked.

"You've got to eat them!" I replied pushing a plate of cookies towards her. She dug into them happily, munching loudly. I pushed another plate towards Quil, but I realized that he was giving me a weird look.

"Why'd you bake all this, Cherry?" he asked me, his voice serious. I sighed, knowing that he probably had me all figured out.

"It makes me feel better." I admitted with a sigh, as I leaned back against the counter. I didn't want to talk about it, not now, I'd only called Quil and Claire over because being alone was driving me nuts, and I figured that company would help me distract myself. "Honestly Quil, it's no big deal. Dig in."

He glanced at the plate of cupcakes, and then at me with a sigh.

"This is stupid." He told me. "It's obvious that you baked all of this because you're upset. Cherry, why don't you just go talk to him? I swear, working things out has _got_ to be cheaper than the amount of money you've been spending on flour and eggs."

"I just need a break." I replied. "I mean, come on Quil, you can't tell me that you're on his side. Damn it, he thought I was leading him on and using him! He should trust me enough to know that I'm not some needy bitch like Bella!"

Quil cast a wary glance towards Claire, but she was too busy 'fighting crime' to even remember that we were still there.

"Nobody thinks that you're anything like Bella, least of all Embry." He said, once he was sure that she wasn't listening. "But you've got to have some sort of compassion for the guy. He's so messed up right now, it's driving the whole pack nuts. He doesn't even know whether to be happy that you love him, or upset that you're pissed off at him, that's how screwed he is."

I bit my lip, as a clenching feeling rose up in my chest. I felt horrible that Embry was so torn up about me, but I was still mad at him. I mean, he hadn't followed me, hadn't even tried to talk to me after last night or apologize. What was I supposed to think?

"If he's so torn up about it, then he should come talk to me." I replied coldly. "He hasn't even tried or anything. It's hardly _my _fault."

"He thinks you won't talk to him."

"He hasn't even _tried_!" I repeated, my voice rising a little. "If he gave a damn, he would be here himself right now instead of leaving you to give me some stupid second-hand account of what he thinks!"

There was a slight silence, until Claire spoke up.

"Cherry, why are you yelling?" she asked softly.

"Sorry." I muttered, turning away from them. "I have to go, I promised Danny I'd do a shift at the coffee shop. Take whatever cakes you want, what's left will probably go in the bin anyway."

-x-x- -xx-

I tapped my fingers idly on the counter, as I watched Hayley take another customer's order. We were pretty empty today, and the only two people in the café were a girl sitting in the corner with a book, and another old lady that was a regular here. One of the guys usually hung out with me while I was on a shift, but Quil was busy with Claire, Jacob was probably down in Forks, and god knows where the hell Embry was. Probably at his place, or Sam's.

He still hadn't tried to talk to me, and I had to admit that I was a little worried. I mean, even though I was damn pissed off at him, I knew that he cared about me. I just couldn't understand why he hadn't even tried to sort things out yet. I wished he would. I missed him.

The door at the front chimed, and a customer walked in. I quickly straightened up, and put on my 'how may I help you' smile, until I noticed who it was.

"Hey… Cherry, right?" the girl asked me. She was short and had golden blonde hair, along with a lot of heavy make-up. It still made her look good though, and I realized that she went to my high school. "Aren't you like, in my History class?"

"Yeah." I replied, trying to remember her name. It was something with a B…

"I'm Brianna." She told me, with a polite smile. I smiled back.

"Hey Brianna. What can I get you?"

"Um, a latte. Lots of cream." She told me, rolling her eyes. "I am _so _giving up on my diet. I swear, it's just totally not worth the trouble. I figure that if a guy wants me for who I am, my figure shouldn't stop him."

"You don't need to lose weight." I assured her, as I fixed her drink.

"Easy for you to say. You already have a boyfriend, don't you? That really tall one… what's his name again? I forgot."

"Embry's not my boyfriend." I told her with a shrug, though I kind of wished I didn't have to say it. Maybe if it wasn't for last night, he _would_ have been my boyfriend right now.

"No way! You're kidding me!" She cried, looking surprised. "Are you telling me that a catch like him is still single? Damn!"

My grip tightened a little on the foam cup I was holding, but I managed not to spill anything.

"Yeah, I guess he is…" I muttered, but I wasn't sure that she heard me. Personally, I didn't care. I just kind of wanted her to leave as soon as possible. "Here's your latte."

"Thanks." She replied, as she fished some change out of her purse. "Not just for the latte. I can't believe I never realized that Embry didn't have a girlfriend!"

She winked at me, before walking away, her purse swinging on her arm. I felt a desperate urge to run after her and tell her that Embry was mine, but I settled myself with just glaring at her as she left the store.

"Who was that?" Hayley asked me, coming up to the counter.

"Some girl from my school." I muttered absently. "Hey Hayley… do you think you could cover for me if Danny comes back? There's something I really have to do, and I'm afraid that if I don't do it now, I'll change my mind."

Hayley smiled at me, her eyes twinkling as she got my meaning.

"Don't worry, girl. You go get him."

I grinned. Embry was mine. He loved me, and I loved him, and I didn't give a damn about anything else.

**A/N – Just a filler chapter, I guess, but the next one will have some drama, I promise! I'll get it up as soon as possible, as long as I get a couple more reviews!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

I was starting to have second thoughts. I mean, let's face it, Embry should be the one standing outside my house right now. He should be the one trying to get me to talk to him, and sort things out between us. I shouldn't be here.

Honestly, I'm sick of this. Why do I have to be the one that does everything? _He_ hurt _me_! I shouldn't be apologizing to him!

I shouldn't.

But I miss him.

And let's face it, if I don't act now, some stupid girl like Brianna is going to realize how amazing he is, and snatch him away from right under my nose. And I don't think I could take that.

But I'm not going to apologize. No way. In fact, I'm going to waltz right into there and tell him frankly that he's an asshole who has no idea how to treat a girl.

I stomped over to his front door, and knocked loudly, tapping my foot impatiently on the front porch. It was almost a full minute before someone opened the door, and then I came face to face with Mrs. Call.

"Hello Cheryl." She greeted, seeming surprised to see me. "Embry's not here right now, I'm afraid… In fact, I'm not entirely sure where he is, I thought he'd be with you."

"Oh…" I replied, upset. "Um, never mind. I guess I'll drop by later. Thanks."

"That's all right, dear. Did you have a good time at the dance last night? Embry told me that he was going with you."

"Hmm? Uh, yeah, the dance was uh… it was great." I lied. "Bye, Mrs. Call."

She smiled at me before closing the door, and I walked back down the steps to his front porch. That was a complete waste of time. I was about to head home, when I saw something blue flash near the trees. I stepped closer, wondering what would be blue near the edge of an evergreen forest.

It was a t-shirt. A pretty big one in fact, and I didn't have to touch it to know that it was Embry's. I'd seen him wear it before. Well, I guess that was back when he actually _wore_ shirts most of the time.

I sighed, leaning down and picking up the shirt. I wondered if he'd left it here because he'd phased and gone into the woods. It seemed a little careless of him, to leave his clothes lying around all over the place, but that wasn't what was on my mind.

Should I go in and look for him? It's not like I was in any danger, it was broad daylight outside, and if Embry was on patrol, then he would smell me and find me, right?

"Embry!" I called out, stepping into the woods. I told myself that I wouldn't go too far in, just enough that he'd be able to hear me. I mean, he had super-sensitive hearing, after all. It wouldn't be too difficult. I cupped my hands at the sides of my mouth, so that my voice was louder. "Embry!"

He didn't respond. I dropped my hands at my sides in annoyance, and took a couple of steps further in. Could he hear me? Or maybe he just wasn't answering on purpose. Feeling a little angry, I yelled out louder, going even deeper inside. "Embry! Are you here?"

Silence.

Okay, so now I was getting pissed off. I mean, what the hell is wrong with him? He doesn't come after me, doesn't try to apologize, and when _I _try to talk to him, he won't even respond?

"Embry, get your ass out here!" I yelled out angrily, as I continued to walk in. "I just want to talk to you, damn it!"

There was a rustle from the bushes behind me, and I turned around in relief.

"Finally, Embry, what took you so-"

Oh my god.

That's not Embry.

"Lost, are we, sweetheart?"

I think my heart stopped beating in my chest.

"Don't be afraid…" the voice continued. It had a melodic tone to it, and knew exactly where I'd heard voices like that before.

The man stepped a little further forward, and I could see him more clearly. He was tall and sickly white, a sort of inhuman radiance around him. He gave me a slightly maniacal smile as he stepped forward, licking his lips. I continued backing away, terrified.

"Get away from me." I muttered, the fear and panic evident in my voice. I couldn't believe that of all the ways to die, I was going to die at the hands of a bloodsucker. A stinking _leech_.

"It' s all right. I'm not going to kill you." The creature assured me, still stepping forward. He was a good distance away from me, but I knew that it didn't matter. He could probably cross it within a second if he tried. "You're a pretty little thing, aren't you? Maybe I'll keep you… it would be nice to have a companion."

My fear turned to rage in an instant.

"I'd rather kill myself than turn into one of you." I hissed at him. Maybe if I could just buy myself some time, Embry might show up…

"Oh but sweetie, that's not up to you." He replied softly, still smiling that maniacal smile.

"You won't get away with this." I told him, but I wasn't feeling so sure. If Embry was going to come save me, wouldn't he have done it already by now? "You'll be torn to shreds if you try to lay a finger on me."

The man grinned, and in a flash, he was standing much closer to me. I stumbled backward in horror but he grabbed me by the wrist.

Then I panicked.

"Let me go!" I screamed hysterically, trying to wrench myself out of his grip. No matter how desperately I wriggled and yanked myself though, his fingers remained still around my wrist. I watched as his smile slowly dropped though, and he tilted his head to the side, expression changing.

"What the-" he began, but before he could finish, a loud growl cut him off. He let go of my hand, and I dropped to the floor in horror as a huge sand-colored shape jumped at him, pinning him to the ground. It started to bite off the vampire's limbs, and I watched in horror, feeling ready to puke as it tore him apart, bit by bit with its huge canines.

It seemed to last forever, and I closed my eyes tightly so that I wouldn't have to watch, feeling the tears roll down my cheeks. I wasn't even entirely sure if I was crying out of fear, or relief, or maybe it was just the vampire's screams of pain that were making me shudder.

"Oh my god, Cherry, are you okay?" Did he bite you?" a voice demanded, sounding worried. I opened my eyes to see a blurry Seth kneeling in front of me. The wolf was gone, and so were the vampire's remains.

"I-I'm fine." I choked out, feeling a lump rising in my throat. Seth tried to help me to my feet, but my knees just gave way again, and he seemed to decided that I was better off on the ground.

"Damn it, I- wait, I'll get Embry. He's probably on his way here already, but…" He trailed off, jumping up and running off into the bushes. I didn't want to be left alone there, but before I could ask him to stay, he was already gone.

A few seconds later, Embry burst through the bushes.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?" He roared, once he saw me curled up there against a tree, hugging my knees to my chest. I flinched at the loudness of his voice, but I couldn't look up at him. Tears were coming down my face again, and I bent my head, trying to hold back the sobs. "Do you have any idea how stupid that was? God damn it, Cherry, I thought you had some _sense_!"

"I'm sorry." I muttered softly.

"You're _sorry_? Sorry wouldn't have done a freaking thing if that leech had killed you! What is it with you, do you have a death wish or something, huh?"

"Embry, you're scaring her." Seth's voice said softly. I think he was trying to get Embry to calm down, but it backfired on him pretty badly.

"Screw you!" he yelled, turning on Seth. "Where the hell were you when this was happening? You were patrolling this area, how could you let a _bloodsucker_ past? Sam should never have let you patrol, you're too immature to-"

"Stop it." I hissed, pulling myself to my feet. My voice was thick with tears and emotion, and I looked a hysterical mess, but I wasn't going to let him be such an ass to Seth. "He saved me."

"Cherry, stay out of this, I'll deal with you later." Embry told me firmly.

" No, you won't deal with me later!" I retorted. "It's not Seth's fault, he saved me, the only reason I came in here was because I wanted to talk to you!"

Embry's expression faltered for a moment, as he stared at me.

"What?"

"You heard me! I came in here to talk to you, because you're being a total and complete asshole! If you'd just come and apologized, I wouldn't have had to do this! So if you're going to blame anyone, I suggest you blame _yourself_!"

I regretted it the instant it came out of my mouth, because I couldn't bear to see the look on Embry's face. His anger disappeared in a flash, and it was replaced by this horrible expression of guilt and pain that made my insides twist .

"You're right." He muttered, turning his face away from me. He looked broken, almost like he was going to cry. "It's my fault. I keep screwing up, again and again, and…"

I couldn't take it. I just couldn't see him like that, so torn apart and broken. I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight. His hands slid around my waist too, pulling me closer to him, as his head rested on mine. I breathed in his scent, willing myself not to cry, until I heard an uncomfortable cough behind me. Embry loosed his grip, and we both turned to look at Seth, who was shifting from foot to foot nervously.

"Um, I'm just going to, uh… yeah." He trailed off, before disappearing into the bushes. I just watched him leave silently, before turning back to Embry.

"I'm sorry, Cherry." He muttered. His hands left my waist to cup my cheeks, and I found myself looking into his eyes. "About everything. About not trusting you, about getting pissed off…. I just keep making these stupid mistakes because I can't control myself around you, and…"

"All I wanted was for you to follow me." I mumbled. "I kept hoping that you would."

"I wanted to, I just…I thought you hated me." He admitted softly. "Damn it, I hated myself at that point of time. I never thought that you… I mean, I thought…"

"Just _stop_ thinking." I told him, with a sigh. "That's probably what's been causing all this trouble."

He chuckled at that, and I could feel his chest rumble a little when he did it.

"If you insist." He replied, smiling slightly. "I'll just go with my instincts, shall I?"

I nodded at him, and he bent his head down to my level, before pecking me on the lips softly. He started to pull away, but I pulled his head back down, and kissed him, running my fingers through his short hair as his lips moved eagerly with mine. Our bodies seemed to melt together, and I knew in that instant that I didn't give a damn what had happened between us. I needed Embry, and I always would.

"Give me another chance?" he asked me softly, once we pulled away. His forehead rested against mine, and one of his hands moved to twirl my hair around his finger.

"Promise me something first." I muttered. "I want you to trust me more. I'm not Bella, and when I tell you that I love you, I mean it. And don't _ever _think that I hate you. I was mad, I'll admit, but maybe it was my own fault."

"As long as you make another promise in return."

"What's that?"

"The next time you decide to take a random walk in the woods, _call _me first_." _

- x -x-

**A/N – I can't help but feel that this chapter sucks. I don't know why, I guess I ever really had this in mind when I started the story off, and it's getting too clichéd for my taste. I think it's going to end in the next couple of chapters, because I feel like the more I try to prolong the story, the worse it gets. **

**Anyway, please review! Criticism is welcome, as long as it's honest! **


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